A fun suggestion from our friend and fellow rookie mom, Rosa, is to pack yourself up and head into the city for a museum outing. Assume you go to a cocktail party sometime soon. When someone asks what you do, instead of mumbling about maternity leave or bursting into tears when you think about how you can’t drink much because you have to nurse every 3 hours and wake up at 6 am, change the subject and say “Have you seen the Rothko show?”
This is your twelfth weekly challenge.
Many museums waive admission fees on certain days of the month. Make that your big day.
Rosa reports that SFMoMa was a successful outing. “Both babies were intrigued by the colorful modernist paintings and sculptures,” she brags. “Mommies get to chat and enjoy the art too.”
For our Bay Area mommas, she suggests that you arrive late morning to San Francisco and use the Nordstrom mother’s lounge as home base. There is a great changing/nursing area for comfort and privacy. You can lunch in the mall’s basement food court, Sony Metreon or if the weather permits, eat outside in Yerba Buena Gardens.
Becky in Boston said that her baby Nick was a trooper at the Museum of Fine Arts. “He was patient. After lunch he nursed and went to sleep in the stroller, I pushed him around and looked at art, when he awoke, we looked at art together – I was amazed at what a great day we had together.”
I took Holden to the BAM/PFA here in Berkeley with some other mommy friends and he enjoyed it a lot (which means no screaming fits — yay!). We ate a nice lunch at the little cafe and negotiated tables, strollers, nursing, and crowds. Parking was kind of a pain, so it was nice to have girlfriends to sort out the logistics.
Did you complete this challenge? Love it or hate it, tell us how it went:
- Comment below and spill the details.
- Share a picture with us on Facebook.
- Name your destination on Twitter and use hashtag #rookiemoms.
- Or, link in the comments to your own blog post about this challenge.
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Child Magazine recently ranked the Ten Best Art Museums for Kids… focusing mainly, as you would expect, on the Toddler Plus age group. A list worth hanging on to for the future.
What a coincidence… we just took both kids (almost 4, and 8 months) to SFMoMA this weekend to meet some friends there. The almost-4-year-old was not exactly into it (no running, jumping, or climbing involved), but it would definitely be an excellent solo outing for me and my 8-month-old. I was very surprised to see that mine were not the only tiny kids at the museum!
Anyway, now we can say that we’ve shown them a few Picassos. And it was great to do something more “adult” for an hour or two.
the babe loves, loves loves the museums (thank god too since his momma is a museum educator!) i anticipate it being a little dicey now that he wants to walk over and touch the art- but who doesnt really?I wish there were more museum art stuff for the just under 2 folks though- i think it is an untapped market especially here in nyc where we all want the most cultured kids
The Milwaukee Art Museum is free for residents every Wednesday. We have an ABC book they published and my 2 year old loves searching the museum for the art featured in the book.
Last time someone had parked too close, I just installed the seat from the other side of the car. Of course, it was very difficult, and I was lucky to have lots of open space on the driver’s side to fling the door completely open. But I managed and we ended up driving away safe and sound. One time we weren’t in a rush and the spot in question was a green zone, so we just strolled around another 10 minutes and the offending driver had moved on, but you just can’t be sure you’ll be so lucky every time.
i took my infant to the seattle art museum’s picasso exhibit. i was a little anxious about crying in the very serious and scheduled exhibit, but it turned out wonderfully. she loved the colors and took a nap. i wore her in the wrap, nursed her in the family room, and changed a blow-out in the bathroom. she was happy and it was easy! now that she’s almost 8 months old and not happy in the carrier for long periods of time, this could be more of a challenge! maybe we’ll try it again!
We went to the Denver Art Museum this last weekend. It was great! http://wp.me/p1dOfY-8c