My knight-errant

The boy & I went to the ROM the other day, mostly to see the new dinosaur exhibit, but also to check out a few other things, including the boy's favourite, the bat cave.

The dinos were very cool, and definitely worth the visit if your little ones are into dinosaurs. There's lots of cool tech to go along with them to help explain everything. The bat cave is a perennial favourite, I even remember it from my days of trips to the ROM!

Given the boy's newest love for knights, we also had to make a trip to see different types of armour. We found this great collection of different styles from the 17th century, including a Samurai helmet, Mughal armour and Indian dagger & sword. He even got to dress up in something replica medieval armour, including a helmet & breastplate which nearly made him fall over it was so heavy!

That's why I love places like the ROM, whatever your interest, dinos, natural history, knights, ancient Egypt, or ancient Rome, there's something there to help spark your imagination, and inspire questions. Of course with the boy, it doesn't always take a lot to inspire a question! And some days with all the questions he asks, maybe I shouldn't be giving him fodder for more!

Wow! 

Make believe

The boy seems to have moved on from being a Roman Solider to being a knight. We're now into learning about Medieval times and what life was like for a knight.

He's really into the idea of jousting and so gallops through the house pretending to have a lance so that he can knock other knights off their horses!

Sir Boy of Sillyville off to the library for more books!

A complete jewellery set

The boy seems to have finally decided (after much questioning) that I really do like the necklace that he made me. So now I have a beaded bracelet to go with the necklace. 

These are pieces of jewellery I'll always treasure. Maybe it will become a family heirloom! 

Who wouldn't want a matching necklace & bracelet

Why do you like the necklace Mummy? Why?

The boy came home from camp yesterday with a beaded necklace he'd made for me. It's very cute and of course I put it on right away and told him how much I liked it. And that's when the questions started.

"Why do you like it Mummy?"

"I like it because it has lots of pretty colours in it,"

"Why does it have lots of colours Mummy?"

"Well, those are the beads you picked for it,"

"Do you like it Mummy?"

"Yes, I like it a lot,"

"Why do you like it?"

"I like it because it looks like a rainbow,"

"It does, doesn't it Mummy. Why else do you like it?"

"I like it because you made it for me, and that makes it special to me."

"Oh, I'm glad."

pause

"Why else do you like it Mummy?"

and so on, and so on, and so on. I had to get very creative with some of my answers, and finally ended up repeating myself. But eventually the questions stopped. Until this morning anyway. The boy certainly does not suffer from a short attention span when it's something that interests him.

The necklace in question. In case you weren't sure, I do like it...

Huge Thanks

We were in Newfoundland last week on vacation and the boy had a great time. We went up Signal Hill, saw the lighthouse at Cape Spear, toured around the Avalon Peninsula, and went whale watching. The boy loved going on the boat, and not only did we get to see whales, but we also saw puffins.

Puffins guarding their burrows

I don't know why the boy was so entranced with the puffins, but that was all he could talk about, and still talks about. As a souvenir we decided to buy him a book about puffins, which we had to read every night (and morning) at the hotel. Unfortunately, in the hustle of trying to get packed up to come home the book got left behind.

His new favourite animal!

I tweeted that I had left the book behind and got an reply with an offer to help from @MarriottIntl within a few hours. The staff at the Marriott in Newfoundland were so friendly and helpful, but I just figured it was all part of the legendary Newfoundland attitude. But it seems that helpfulness goes across the Marriott chain.

They helped me track down the book, got in touch with the manager of the Courtyard Marriott in St. John's, and then low and behold in the mail today we got a package.  In it was the boy's book, and as an extra special treat, they had included a puffin bookmark & a puffin key chain!

I can't say enough nice things about the Marriott hotel. Not only did they pick up on a chance tweet, and followed through, but then they went above and beyond by taking note of the boy's interest in puffins. So thank you Marriott for being so awesome and making my boy's week. (And a half hearted thanks from me, since I've now had to read the puffin book a lot again!) You've got a customer for life in my family.