Winter break is here, and if you’re like me, you are looking for fun things to do to keep the kids from driving you bonkers busy while they’re out of school.  If you’re anywhere near Dayton,  I strongly suggest the Robot Zoo exhibit at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery.

We love the Boonshoft, as I have mentioned many times, and their rotating exhibits are always a fun addition to our usual favorites like the live animals, the Cassano’s pizza-making station and the recycling center.  A few weeks ago Joshua, Sophie and I went to check out Robot Zoo and we had a BLAST! I think I like it just about as much as I liked Mindbender Mansion, their last exhibit.  Here’s why!

The exhibit features several robotic animals, like this Platypus (which Joshua and Sophie were *totally* jazzed about because they love Perry the Platypus from Phineas & Ferb!)  Using easily viewed and recognizable parts, these robots exhibit how a real animal’s real parts help that animal to function.  Kiddos can also control the robot animal with levers.  Very cool and they loved making “Perry” move around!

Joshua also loved the robot frog!

The best part about the Robot Zoo is that it is really interactive and hands-on.  It’s learning by doing, feeling, and participating, not just by looking. Here the kids are discovering how it feels to be an insect with sticky feet:

Robot Zoo will be at the Boonshoft until January 9, 2012, so make sure and check it out while your kiddos are on break for the holidays!  After all, you DON’T want to miss a photo opp like this one:

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I am being compensated for this post.  I paid for my family’s entrance to the Boonshoft, and all opinions about the exhibit are my own.

I don’t know what to do with Sam. It’s 10:01 p.m. and he is not asleep. In fact, he’s making some sort of ruckus in his room, one I’m sure does not in any way involve his bed, but that he is even in his room at all is an improvement over where we’ve been for the last hour.

Scratch that, he’s right here in front of me.

I’m losing patience, Andy’s losing patience, this is a recipe for disaster.

He used to be such a good sleeper! I’d read him a book, sing him a song, lay him in his bed and he’d be out. Now? Not so much.

I suppose the trouble started when he moved into a real bed instead of his crib. I hated to move him, but for the love he was three and a half and way too big – he couldn’t turn over! Now it’s like someone slipped him an espresso 15 minutes before bedtime. He instantly has all the energy in the world and bounces off the walls. It’s so hard to settle him down.

This evening, at about 7:30 when we were finally sitting down to supper, he said he was tired and looked like he could hardly keep his eyes open. I knew I should just put him to bed, but I wanted him to eat something. Of course, he found his second wind and now it’s off to the races.

I honestly think the solution is to get him to bed earlier, but when we don’t darken the door until 6:00, it’s really hard to have any kind of semblance of family or relaxation time (or even dinner and a bath) and have him in bed by 7:30.

Now he’s in bed, but repeating “I can’t go to sleep in my bed” over and over.

I am about to shoot myself.

HELP. How can I get my good sleeper back?