Because we always leave later than we originally plan to, we got to Fort Worth around lunch time instead of mid-morning. We went to our favorite restaurant, Spiral Diner. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a wait, so Liam had pretty much reached his limit of redirection and don't do that's by the time we sat down. The first high chair didn't have a buckle (really?), so it was a struggle getting him into another one. We distracted him with snacks and a to go cup long enough to scarf down our meal as quickly as possible before getting out of there before he got screamy.
At that point, it was nap time and he was tired and he was hungry because he didn't eat much. That was his fault. He was offered plenty of food. In the car, he got excited about going to the "George 'Seum" once again, so I was hoping it would all go well.
It was kind of dark in the Curious George room, and there were so many activities and people around, that I think it was just a tad too overwhelming for a tired Liam. He got fixated on the boulder moving station, and kept getting in other kids' ways. Then he got fixated on the golf station and kept trying to interrupt other kids playing. So before too long, Liam absolutely lost all patience with the amount of redirection we were having to do. I tried to get him to try other stations, but he kept wanting to go back to his two favorites. It's hard to remember all the details now, but I know Will had to pick him up and remove him from a situation, and then Liam became the one screaming in the room. Curious George was scheduled to make an appearance soon after that, and I didn't want Liam to miss it if we could help it, so we took him into the hallway and calmed him down the best we could.
Then we carried Liam to the room where Curious George was posing for pictures, and there was a long line of people waiting their turn. When Liam saw George, he wanted to go to him immediately and struggled to get down. When he wasn't allowed to do that, more screaming happened. He was so tired and now angry that he couldn't go see George. We took him out one more time and calmed him down yet again. Then we tried one last time. The line was much shorter now, and we only had to wait a few minutes. Liam was still crying, but thankfully not screaming, so we stayed put. When it was Liam's turn to meet George, he immediately stopped crying and smiled the biggest smile ever. He loved meeting George and was genuinely happy to be sitting next to him. I'm pretty sure he decided he was just going to stay there all day. So when our minute or so with George was up and we had to move on, you can imagine how Liam reacted. So we once again carried a screaming Liam out, and then we just left the exhibit. We didn't want to put him in the car so upset, so we gave him some water and crackers in the hallway (again), and then we left the museum.
It was unfortunate that he was so tired by the time we got there, but we had gone all the way to Fort Worth, so there was no way we were going to skip it. All the chaos was worth it, though, because of how much he loved meeting Curious George. Then he took a good nap all the way back home!
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