We had an awful lot of fun there. In fact, perhaps too much fun, for an art gallery like that - I have the suspicion that some were rather less than impressed that anyone would bring their children there to have fun. God forbid that art galleries should ever be fun!
However, having said that, I don't know if Finn looked at a picture on the wall even once, so busy was he shouting and running around with Lily, so I guess that the art was as good as irrelevant to his experience. And even when it was a part of the fun, it was probably inappropriately so - such as pointing out the "trucks" and "fireworks" and "sleeping" people in an installation video that included an audio track of racial prejudice and visuals of the Vietnam War. We left that one before the end, but only once Finn and Lily went up and started to dance in the projection light and someone from the anonymity of the dark room told us to get out!... Perhaps they had a point, though I will probably just choose a different gallery to go to next time, rather than not go at all to any.
The day started with a walk and then a very fun trip across London on a (tube) "train", before we sat happily on a bench outside the gallery and ate our sandwiches. Finn sat perfectly contented for over 30 minutes there on the bench, happily eating his cheese and then jam sandwiches (from which I was passed each mangled and gnawed soggy crust). It was lovely and peaceful there, watching tourists come and go (some of whom thought Finn sufficiently cute to take a picture of him!), pointing at the pigeons limping around us, and then pointing at the planes that would cross the sky every couple of minutes or so. Very relaxing.
Then we did some exploring of things near the Tate, including the "tunnels":
Then Lily and her parents arrived and the real fun began as they were let lose, running and shouting, into one of Britain's most important (and stodgy) art galleries. Lily's mum, Yu-Chen, took a few pictures which show some of the fun:
Lots of fun, from start to finish. The only sore point was when we parted ways on the tube on the way home and Finn had a weeping fit when Lily and her parents left us!
However, when we got home, I managed to entertain Finn for the 30 minutes or so before Cori got home by drawing with him. This is a relatively new thing to do with him and it normally entails him pointing at the paper and demanding that we draw him a "Car! Car! Car!" or a "Train! Train! Train!" etc. But (after a few sheets of cars and trucks and diggers and tractors) I was glad to get his full and quiet attention for ten minutes or so as I drew our day out for him, speaking him through it as I did so. He sat quietly watching and then would point out to me everyone and everything that I'd drawn - "Lily. Dee-dah. You. Andro. Yu-Chen. Train. Bird"etc. ("You" is, frustratingly but sensibly enough, his word for him - seemingly he's picked up on our pointing to pictures of him and saying "You" as we point to him - "You" he will say, as he points to a picture of himself, before pointing his finger at his own belly).
He also demanded that I draw in Cori at the end, disappointed that "Mama" didn't appear anywhere in the picture, which made sense as a good ending to the narrative picture as the drawing was then interrupted as Cori came through the door. But then, after a quick hug, Finn returned to get the picture so that he could take it over to Cori to then sit down and explain to her piece by piece - "Lily. Dee-dah. You. Andro. Yu-Chen. Train. Bird"etc.
We were really impressed by this. Both by his concentration in the process and his interest in it and retention of the elements after it was done. It was as if it had dawned on him that pictures could mean/represent something; as if they suddenly had potential to do something.
In celebration, here is a picture of the rather masterly rending of our trip to the Tate that Finn was so keen to show off to Cori:
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