Art Appreciation

Warning: This post contains anatomical language and photos of paintings of nudity. If that sort of thing is upsetting to you, stop reading.

Yesterday, on a whim, Henry and I decided to go down to the Art Institute. I thought it might be a good way to spend the day, since it was going to be so hot and muggy outside. Pete suggested we take the train, which added another element to our adventure. Here's Henry in the train station (which has its own coffee shop!) eating a free bagel from the nice coffeeman.
And on the train... we were delayed when we finally got to Union Station, because of a derailment earlier in the day. So we had to sit on the tracks with a boring view for about 20 extra minutes. We used our time to decide upon what we would look for at the museum, we settled upon looking for a dog, a cat and a tiger in the paintings.

Once downtown we walked the 5 blocks to the museum. Henry rode in his stroller, but we checked it when we got inside. After a bathroom visit, our first stop was in the miniatures room. Henry loved looking at the miniature cathedral ("where is the bell?") and we found a dog and a cat in some of the other rooms. Then we travelled past the suits of armor....which I always find fascinating.
We had spent so much time on the train and walking, that it was already time for lunch. We splurged and ate in the restaurant instead of the cafe. This way they brought the food to us (much easier than juggling a try while holding the hand of a two-year-old) and we could sit outside by the fountain. We were sold when they told us they had a kid's menu. Here's Henry coloring on the backside of it. If you look closely you can tell that's La Grande Jatte (which we saw later).
Here's a blurry shot of our lovely eating spot ("Mom, is the water coming out of their penises?").
Henry under a giant O'Keefe painting.

While we wandered around, I tried to get Henry to tell me if there was something he liked. The only painting he really lingered at, without my urging, was this one.
Me: Do you like this one Henry?
H: Yes!
Me: Why?
H: Because! It has penises and verginas in it.
We did get some looks while I had him pose for the photo. Fortunately, most of the looks were bemused.
Then we came upon this painting/relief sculpture. Henry looked at it for a bit. I asked him what it looked like to him, and then I got this on video. It starts out all nice and thoughtful, and then at the end you remember that it is Henry talking.

We had to see American Gothic. Henry had seen a bit of the picture on the museum map and kept asking "who is that man?" We tried to talk about how Grant Wood was from Iowa and how a house he had lived in was very close to the house where mommy grew up, but he lost interest quickly.

Here we are outside. Henry was so tired he didn't know what to do with himself. He alternated between being totally goofy and looking like a walking zombie.
We found the free trolley back to the station, but had almost an hour to kill there before getting back on the train.



In this photo you may notice some M&M residue around the corners of Henry's mouth. I was shocked that he didn't fall asleep on the ride home. I certainly wanted to!
All in all, a very tiring, but very nice day with my boy. We even got Pete to cook dinner (with some guidance) and Henry fell asleep before 8PM so Pete and I could watch a movie. Wears me out just thinking about it again!