Backpack to Buggy

Mirielle fascinated by Chuhuli glass art at the Legion of Honor.

Sometimes the most important travel discoveries with toddlers happen close to home. This is a picture of Mirielle fascinated by at Chuhuly sculpture at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor. Previously, the only museum we saw with Mirielle was one gallery in Ubud, Bali while she was asleep in the Ergo. When she woke up, we left. On this day we discovered how to see a museum or gallery with an active, distractable toddler.

Taking advantage of free First Tuesday at the Legion, we figured if it didn’t work, we would leave. We avoided the rooms with easily accessible items like furniture. The paintings were pretty boring for her, so we played “look at that….dog/cow/duck/baby…..” We had to move quickly, but I did learn some of those kids in 18 & 19th century European paintings are creepy. The central Rodin sculpture rooms, where the two of the three Chuhuly glass sculptures were displayed, provided close to an hour of entertainment. She could run around, shriek in an echo chamber of sorts, and play hide and seek behind pedestals. We had to keep a more careful eye around the sculpture pictured here, but she was really excited by it. Probably because it was at her eye level and colorful. She keep circling around it, pointing, and babbling about the “squigglies.”

We are continuing to take advantage of free days at local museums to learn how this works. (Sculpture gardens/rooms rock!) But, we now feel comfortable including grown up museums in our travels.

Note: I will be participating in DeliciousBaby’s super cool Photo Fridays, where everyone is invite to link to a travel photo. Please click here to see more of this week’s photos & stories.