Several weeks ago Vanessa had the opportunity to teach Zane and Mommy about metamorphosis using the exhibit at the Franklin Park Conservatory. Through ZooKids and other experiences she's learned about it.
Before entering the Butterfly Room she got a sneak peak and insisted
there was a giant octopus in the middle of the room. We went in and
discovered it was another piece of Chihuly art. She felt silly once we got up close: "Oh . . . I see. I was so silly for thinking that was an octopus." I replied that I totally got it and the piece of art can be anything she wants it to be. "Okay. Okay. Okay. I think it looks like an octopus. Sheesh."
This time Vanessa was especially fond of the butterflies with red on their wings, even though all of them seemed to be drawn to Vanessa. They flutter up to her and swarm her head. The experience reminded me that last May, during the last ZooKids session of the month, where they released butterflies in the new garden they created, using donated plants, a butterfly flew out of its cage and landed right on Vanessa's head. The butterfly chose her out of approximately 18 kids. The class was excited and the teacher shared the story with the parents before pick up, not mentioning who the particular child was until Vanessa was released to me. Vanessa was so tickled. It was also a day she donated a plant to the garden to always remind her of
Cousin Celia when visiting and passing the ZooKids garden.
Zane also enjoyed practicing his understanding of butterflies using the magnet exhibit.
And what a cool Light Bright exhibit! Reminds me of a time when I was just a year older than Vanessa and I was playing with a disabled adult that my aunt cared for. Her name was Barb and she was a 50-year-old lady with the mental capacity of a 4-year-old. We were playing with her light bright when she acted out and screamed to my aunt that I was eating her Light Bright pegs, which was untrue. I remember being very confused at the time but my dad explained to me that I did nothing wrong and how to handle the situation. I never had my own Light Bright set but always wanted one, so I loved playing with Barb when she was interested.
Vanessa thinks this piece of Chihuly Art would look fantastic in our great room. I agreed and chuckled at the thought. :)
While waiting on some Very Hungry Caterpillar activities to begin, we continued to explore and were blessed in doing so. We watched a mother cardinal and a father cardinal feed their babies. The mother waited for the father to fly off and retrieve yummy goodies.
Vanessa's favorite room is the Himalayan Mountains Room, where a train and village is made up of characters from all the popular fairy tales. It was fun to look for and find the characters.
Zane's favorite thing was anything with water.
And the Desert Room was fun for playing with friends.
After organized activities, the Hungry Caterpillar visited. Vanessa was so tickled. The Hungry Caterpillar played games with her and danced with her.
Zane freaked out. Vanessa tried to reassure him.
We figured out that Zane was fine as long as he didn't have to look at the very big creature. (It didn't help that he was exhausted and wanted a nap. He napped just moments later.)
This summer seems fuller of butterflies. We have a few favorite visitors in our backyard, which seem to be more than in past years. And for some reason it took Vanessa's Sunday School teachers presenting a lesson involving the meaning of names for her to really process the meaning of her name. Although we've talked about it many times, she returned home last Sunday and announced to me "Guess what Mom. My name means butterfly. See, my teachers gave me this page with it."
