The Doc McStuffins Exhibit

Anne loves Disney's Doc McStuffins and basically wants to be Doc McStuffins. She regularly dresses up in doctor's clothes. She wears a stethoscope. She operates on her stuffed animals. When her sisters get hurt, she drives them crazy with her medical attention. She wants to clean their cuts, put band-aids on them and cover them in ice packs. 

Last summer, while on vacation in Rhode Island, Anne saw a commercial on Disney Jr. for Doc McStuffins: The Exhibit. This is a travelling exhibit put together by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It is a hands-on experience in which kids can give examinations, pretend to operate and care for dolls in a nursery. Anne immediately wanted to go to the Exhibit. The problem was that is was in California at the time. After some research, I discovered it was going to be in Reading, Pennsylvania, in Spring 2018. Reading is not particularly close to us, but it is driveable. I made no promises to Anne. I kept my mouth shut and waited to see if a day would open up in which I could take her. 

In March, such a day did arrive. I checked with Meg and Clare to see if they wanted to go. Clare was quickly on board. Meg gave it some thought but decided she didn't want to be left out of a road trip. We kept everything quiet until right before we left. When we finally told Anne, this was her response:

Yes, that child was ready to do some doctoring. The drive to Reading was long, but we made the time pass by listening to A Wrinkle in Time and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street. That passed the time quite well for Meg and Clare, but poor Anne was beside herself with the long ride.

When we finally arrived at the Reading Public Museum, Anne was a bit overcome and needed some time to acclimate herself to the Exhibit. She spent a lot of time in the clinic examining dolls. She would occasionally make her way over to the surgical area, but instead of performing surgery, she mostly reinflated the inflatable dog.  

Eventually she began to feel comfortable and truly began exploring the Exhibit. She scrubbed in and performed some surgery. 

After stitching up a torn teddy bear, she took her turn at the reception desk of the toy hospital. 

She took some x-rays and rocked some babies to sleep. She was clearly very excited to see the huge Stuffy cutout. 

By the end of our time at the Exhibit, Meg, Clare and I found a comfortable bench and just watched Anne play. She was in her own world--or rather, she had finally managed to get into the Doc McStuffins world she always wants to be in. We just let her play until she curled up on a chair and could no longer stand. Not too long after we got into the car to return home, she looked like this...

It was a wonderful experience. As I mentioned above, Doc McStuffins: The Exhibit is put together by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Some of my favorite childhood memories were at that museum. They have come through for me again with this wonderful experience for my daughter. I have recently learned that The Exhibit will be making its way to our area in Fall 2019. Perhaps we'll go again then, but I'm glad we made the trip to Reading Public Museum this year. I don't know that Anne will love Doc McStuffins quite as much in a year and a half. I'm not sure that her imagination will be so all encompassing. It was the perfect experience for her right now and I'm glad we captured the moment.