We did have one scary moment. there is a slide in the giant tree that gives the museum its name. Kezie was interested, but it was "gart" (that's how she says dark) and she didn't dare go down it alone. I wasn't about to squeeze myself into it. She enviously watched several other kids go down, and would peer into the tunnel, trying to get up her courage. After a few minutes of this, a girl who was probably eight or nine came by, and seemed to think her hesitance was due to inability rather than fear. She picked Kezie up, sat her down at the mouth of the slide, and gave her a friendly little push. It happened so fast neither of us could react. I raced to the stairs to try to meet her at the bottom, but there was a whole passel of small children being herded up the narrow staircase and I had to squeeze past them. The adults doing the herding probably wondered why the crazy lady couldn't just wait another minute rather than nearly running over their children, but I didn't want to stop to explain.
I heard "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" and found Kezie walking in circles around the tree trunk. She wasn't panicked, or even frightened, she just wondered where I was. We had a little chat about how you should stay in one place when you are lost, and then went on playing. The experience didn't scar her; she went down the slide again a few minutes later. This time I timed things better and reached the bottom floor just after she did.
Kezie being a neonatalogist at her favorite exhibit; the hospital nursery:
Playing chess and exploring the giant chessboard
President Kathryn Elizabeth Averett. 
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