We Visit the Great Big Ball of Science

Michael watching electricity come alive

It won't take much for the regular readers to figure out that the "Ball of Science" I'm referring to is actually...Science World. "Ball of Science" is what Melissa called it, much to the amusement of those who heard her pontificate on the Skytrain. If you're dubious as to whether or not a 4-year old can pontificate, I assure you: this one does.

It's Sunday, my usual day with the kids. Kids on good behaviour is the condition (and variable). So today that excluded 2-year old Madeleine. Apparently she takes the "terrible twos" terribly seriously or just... well, terribly. Or to heart. She was screaming blue murder when I arrived at my brother's house, and I asked how long that had been going on.

"Oh, nearly an hour," Cheryl informed me. "I don't recommend you take her." Oh, really? That bad, huh? I figured the older two could handle going out on their own, so I decided to make our lives easier and take the Sktytrain, since the "Ball of Science" was chock-a-block full due to raining-cats-and-dogs kind of weather. I drove by it on the way to the freeway, and I could see people were having a tough time parking. Thought it might be best to avoid all that.

the Ms on the Skytrain

This is only Melissa's second outing with me since her return from Maine, so I thought we'd hit all the shows. Some of them were very dazzling, like the "Cold Show" which featured dry ice and even liquid nitrogen. I could tell the kids were really wowed by the demonstrations with shattering banana peels, rubber tubing, and Fluffy the balloon dog. I saw their eyes widen as Fluffy was stuffed into the clear cylinder that contained the liquid nitrogen, promptly deflated, then "resuscitated" by a little volunteer who breathed on it and causing it to inflate again. Michael has an amazing memory, so I'm going to have to keep my eye on him the next time I get him balloon dog -- he might try and stuff it into somebody's glass of water, hoping it would deflate.

Between the "Locomotion" show and the last show of the day called "Science Surprises" I ran around to get the kids to try new exhibits. Seems like Michael and Melissa are getting bolder, especially Michael, who on occasion was a bit shy but has now become pretty brazen. I have a feeling it's a competitive thing. Melissa may be older than Michael by one year, but he's the same size as she is, so competes with her physically and in other ways. She's very verbose for her age and can still talk rings around him (he's catching up, though), but I think attending daycare with a bunch of rowdy boys for the past few months has made him louder. Michael is SO VERY LOUD, it can be embarrassing. On the Skytrain a man sat down in front of us who was bald, and guess who piped up, "HEY, HE HAS NO HAIR!" at the top of his lungs? Pointing his finger, no less, at the man's head as he eagerly made his report...

I wanted to crawl under the seat and disappear, but the man just ignored us, and I shushed the kids up.

The daycare lady, Natalia, says she finds Michael hilarious. When other children say "snake!", Michael will say "Burmese python" When they say "ostrich!", Michael will shake his head and say "emu"! I took Michael and Melissa to the nature section of Science World, which houses some live creatures such as a hive of bees and snakes. They had the opportunity to pet the resident corn snake, and when I asked Michael what it felt like, he said very matter-of-factly,"it feels like a Burmese python!" The man next to me burst out laughing, while I admonished, "Michael, how do you know what a Burmese python feels like?" Really, I should've saved my breath.

Melissa's first stint as a volunteer

Melissa even got onstage. Before, whenever a volunteer was called up onstage during a show (practically every five minutes), the kids wouldn't even raise their hands. This time it was different. They started raising their hands tentatively during the first show, waving their arms in the air during the second show, and by the time the third show came around both of them were right up in the front row just about jumping up and down. I knew it was just a matter of time before one of them got called up. This time it was Melissa.

She did quite well for her debut. No stage fright. She did push buttons even when the "scientist" told her not to, but nothing blew up, so that was fine. I think Michael was jealous that she went up and he didn't, so I'll see if I can get him in a red shirt or something bright like that for next time. Or a Canucks (hockey) jersey, that seemed to be one sure-fire way of getting onstage. Either that, or I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way and grease a palm. (Apparently, that works best at the government level.)