Hanging with Karlee: Part 6

As I sit here, readying myself to type out the final entry in my "Hanging with Karlee" series, I am struck by a feeling of sadness. I wish I didn't have to stop, didn't have to end what has been a rewarding experience, both for the glimpse into parenthood and in having something new to write that has (so far) been well received by my friends and family. For all of you who have been keeping up with these posts, I thank you.

Our sixth day with Karlee ended up being our last. We had planned on keeping her for a couple more days, but those plans fell through, and I am thankful to point out that it wasn't because Karlee wanted to go home. I think by the sixth day, Karlee had grown used to her uncles, and we had grown used to her, although not so used to each other that we'd want to make the situation permanent right this moment.

Since we had missed our scheduled trip to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History the previous day, we decided to head over to the museum that Thursday. The main draw was the dinosaur exhibit and a new exhibit called "Grossology," which promises exactly what the title suggests. A more appropriate title I could not imagine.

Karlee loves dinosaurs. In fact, I remember the time we went with her to the Fort Worth Zoo--this was during her first trip to Dallas, and she had not stayed with us then. The Fort Worth Zoo is quite impressive, and we all had fun even with the blistering heat of the 2011 summer season. And while Karlee enjoyed all the living animals, she seemed to be more fascinated with the fake animals throughout the park, particularly the dinosaurs. See, that year, the Zoo had placed life-size sculptures of dinosaurs throughout the park. Of course, Karlee wanted to pet them all. It took all our efforts to keep her from crossing the rope barriers to touch every single dinosaur she saw. Believe me when I say she saw all of them.

I've always been fascinated with the connection children feel toward dinosaurs. Once, I read that children love dinosaurs because they are themselves living in a world where they don't feel quite like they belong. That's to say, children find themselves occupying a larger world where they feel unsure and out of place. Dinosaurs, on the other hand, are awkward beings, animals that would also not fit comfortably in the modern world; there's no place for them. This feeling of not-fitting in the world is a wonderful representation of a child's own feelings. However, it could also be that dinosaurs are big, powerful, and just plain cool.

Keeping all of this in mind, we knew Karlee would love this particular museum exactly because it contained an exhibit on dinosaurs, but there was a problem: The exhibit wasn't exactly what I'd call very interesting, at least not to a four-year-old. Yes, there were exhibits, but mostly of skeletons, no statues of more fleshed out dinosaurs. Karlee liked it, yes, but she only liked all the buttons she could push and all the bones she could touch. Tactile experiences seem to be preferable.

We quickly found ourselves out of the dinosaur exhibit and chasing Karlee through the more kid-friendly areas.

A word of advice, when taking your children to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History: take your younger children to the grocery and medical areas within the Kid's Zone. They will love it. Nothing is quite as much fun as whole areas created solely for children to run around and pretend. As much time as they spend in the adult world, where going to the grocery store is anything but fun, a child will suddenly relish the chance to have a grocery store that is their size.

For Karlee, such an experience was a blast; for us, however, it was like having a glimpse of the apocalypse.

Image it: You go into a grocery store. There are about a hundred people running all over the place, some have carts, some have baskets, some are carrying their hoards in their arms. Everyone has a mad glint in their eyes. The shelves are bare, and you're looking for whatever you can find. Even though everyone is running around, there seems to be a nexus of movement at the cash registers. Some people are checking out while others are stealing the discarded food. And the cycle just goes on and on.

Now, image the above scenario with about twenty people instead of hundreds and all of them are about two feet tall.

Poor Karlee spent most of her time looking for a grocery cart, and after she found one she spent the rest of her time bargaining for the food she was looking for. She found a fish, a whole chicken and a various array of vegetables. At least her choices were healthy.

I think we spent about forty-five minutes in that one area. It took all we could just to get Karlee to check out (she refused to leave without checking out) and allow other children to use her cart. Since it took so much for her to acquire the cart, she just didn't want to give it up.

After that, Karlee moved over the hospital and ambulance area; and since we pulled Karlee from all the fun of the grocery store, she found a baby doll and hid herself in the ambulance, making sure not to make eye contact with us should we decide to disturb her fun again. And we did disturb her fun after about twenty minutes.

Next up was the "Grossology" exhibit. Now that I think about it, that exhibit may not have been the best idea, not because it wasn't cool or interesting, but because so much of it was written out and completely unintelligible to Karlee. However, she did like all the weird statues and buttons she could push.

I found the exhibit utterly fascinating because it covered all the grosser characteristics of the human body, presenting the material in a humorous and intelligent way. I do wish I could have spent more time in the exhibit myself. But, we had to keep up with Karlee, who ran from one section to the next, giving us very little time to figure out what each section was showing. Older children will benefit more from the exhibit. And from the great variety of butt jokes Karlee is capable of producing, I'm sure she will find the exhibit quite funny one day.

There was another exhibit that Karlee did enjoy because of two sections she could actively participate in, and it was called "Risk." She quite enjoyed the bed of nails and the metal beam that looked as though it was hovering hundreds of feet off the ground.

All in all it was a fun experience at the museum.... Until, of course, we got the store. Karlee, I believe, was presented with too many options in that store and couldn't quite decide on anything. Though, she did tell us a number of times that a couple of items were what she'd always wanted. Either way, I seemed to have a large black spot in my memory regarding that particular shopping experience.

Back in the car, we discovered that Karlee's Nana, Tim's mom, was going to meet us halfway between Dallas and Odessa to pick her up. So, basically, the Fort Worth museum was the last activity we were all to experience on this trip. We drove back to the apartment and packed up all of Karlee's toys and clothes, and within an hour and a half we were heading toward Abilene to meet up with Nana.

Now that I've been in a car with Karlee for three and a half hours, I'm sympathetic to Tim's mom, who did not relish the idea of traveling for five and a half hours with Karlee all by herself. She would be excited and playful one moment and nearly crying over the state of her seat-belt the next, only to be laughing again at a particularly funny butt joke she'd just made up. It was exhausting, fun, and full of anxiety, wondering when the next tearful moment would explode.

We arrived in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen just off of I-20 and started transferring all of Karlee's things over into the car Tim's mom came in. We exchanged greetings and provided the background information Tim's mom might need to understand Karlee's mood and some of what she may talk about. Karlee hugged us goodbye, thanked us, and then she was gone.

Tim and I drove back in relative silence, enjoying the quiet, and we enjoyed discussing all the fun things Karlee had said throughout the week. While we were relieved to have life descend back down to normal again, there was a small void in our lives at that moment.

We had experienced the closest thing possible to having a child of our own. It was the test before the real thing, and I believe we did pretty well. I know I was surprised by how much one little girl could affect my life, if only for a week, despite my former discomfort around children. Admittedly, I don't know why I wrote "former discomfort," as I'm still uncomfortable around children, but now I'm a bit more prepared. At least now I know what the future holds should Tim and I decide to have children.

With all the stresses, all the tears, all the anxiety, it is still one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever enjoyed. It's no wonder people keep having children.

Next time, maybe we'll be able to actually pull off Unicorn Land.