So we recently visited the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier and I have to say it was amazing!

A lot of times we struggle to find things that Lulu can do. She can go in a bounce house, but we don’t let her because we are sure she will be trampled or more likely refuse to come out and I would have to go in and try and get her out! She can walk around a street fest or the zoo, but only if it’s not too crowded. She’s still a new walker, so she’s a little all over the place.

It’s important to us that she maintains independence. Right now we don’t want her to fear much. We want to continue to let her build her outgoing personality and feel like within limits, it’s ok for her to wave or say hi to strangers, pet a dog with permission, or be unafraid checking out a snake. Independence and confidence are important, and we want her to be full of both.

But we still fear for her safety. We worry she might fall down. She might get her feelings hurt when someone ignores her or doesn’t notice her friendliness.  We know there’s a lot that can happen to our little explorer and we want to protect her as much as we can.

So this past weekend was cooler and rainy in Chicago so we to Navy Pier to check out the Children’s Museum.

The day started off a little hectic.  The Pier itself was packed! Crazy packed. There was no parking and it was already midday when we were getting there. We grabbed lunch at the first restaurant that had a table available. I lost our free tickets to the museum at some point, and the lines for the bathroom to change the babies were nearly a mile long.

Luckily, there wasn’t a line to get into the museum. We were able to go up right away.

The actual museum starts on the 2nd floor, and there wasn’t a ton for Lulu to do there but it was cute.  And it had bathrooms without a line! They had an exhibit on fire stations, which included how to crawl through a smoke-filled room, dress up clothes and a fire “truck” to play in. They had a dinosaur skeleton and a station for making boats out of recyclable materials. They had a ship room, but it was a little too busy for Lulu to really do anything without getting trampled. She did get to sit in a kayak. All in all, I felt this floor was geared towards a slightly older child.

Then we went to the third floor and Lulu was in heaven! We were amazed at all the activities that she was able to do! And we didn’t even get to the toddler room, because it was closed.

Lulu dug for dinosaur bones, which she loved. And we loved giving her the freedom to walk around on her own and play with other kids.  We let her go up there and play and we watched from the sidelines.  A first for both Lulu and us.

She played in the town. Including a stop on a CTA bus, a play kitchen, a car wash, and a grocery store.  This is her, “Mom, you know I prefer the train” face.

She loved the yarn ball toss. It didn’t matter if she got to use the slingshot or just be around the yarn balls, she loved it!

She got to drive an earth mover, play baby Godzilla and tear down some skyscrapers, and test out some Erector set style blocks.

But the best part of all was the water room! London has so much fun sticking her hands in the water and playing with all the toys. Watching other kids play in the water, and make different fountains go off.

All in all, it was a great day and something the kids really enjoyed. Even Linc was able to join in on the fun by playing in the machine shop area, where there were mirrors, locks, homemade maracas and tools at his level.

If you’re ever in the city, I highly recommend checking it out. And Navy Pier is usually a nice time as well, so much to see for all sorts of age groups.  Lulu gives it 2 hands up!

XOXO

Sarah