Waxing and Waning in Suburbia: Aquarium Mysteries...

A few weeks ago I had Morgan with me when I went to the pet store. Because it was his first time there I decided to show him around. He didn't pay much attention to the mammals, but the fish were apparently fascinating. With this knowledge we decided that we would take him to the Seattle Aquarium and see if he is actually old enough to get something out of the experience. Our original plan was to give him his morning bottle, pack into the car early, he could nap on the way and then we could enjoy a quiet run around a near empty aquarium with an awake attentive baby. If a single element of this overall plan had gone awry I wouldn't suspect a thing, but given the actual result of our trip I'm pretty sure that a higher power was conspiring against us.

Things seemed to be going well until about halfway there when Morgan suddenly exploded into a fit of baby rage in the back of the car, filling the last 20 minutes of our trip with inconsolable shrieking. Apparently he had failed entirely to nap as planned on the way there, so when we showed up we had a very tired grumpy baby on our hands. Once inside the aquarium it was clear that it was not at all the quiet day that we were hoping for. There was not one but two school groups there on a field trip. In fact for the first little bit it was nearly impossible to get Morgan to pay attention to the fish since he was so fascinated with the huge crowd of kids milling about the place.

In the end the fact that things did not go according to plan did not prevent the whole family from having a good time. As we made it further into the aquarium Morgan showed clear interest in the various exhibits and while he was a little tired he was attentive and engaged. Luckily the Seattle Aquarium is small and turned out to be just right for his baby attention span. Just as we were leaving his interest in the environment completely evaporated. The tropical fish, with their bright colors against an azure background, were the most fascinating of the exhibits. Glass is still a mystery, with Morgan constantly smacking his hands and head against the glass of the tanks trying to get at the fish. Interestingly enough the Otters and Seals were practically invisible to Morgan, even with them both being highly active. It's hard to say if it was the relatively dark colors of those animals or just that it was near the end of the day and therefore he was too tired to pay attention.

Here are some pics! Taken with the Coolpics so they aren't high quality but you get the picture.

Here he is glaring when we finally got there...

Still intrigued by all the people at this point (we thought going early during the week we would miss the crowds but apparently there were several field trips happening)