A day with my boy

I haven’t had a chance to spend any one-on-one time with Z since Mei-mei was born, so today I planned a morning of fun for just the two of us.  After I nursed Mei-mei, I put Z in the Ergo, grabbed my backpack, and set off for our first destination:  the bus stop.  Z loves buses and points out every city/school/shuttle/tour/double-decker bus he sees.  But he’s never ridden a city bus – only the shuttle buses at the airport or in Beaver Creek.  So we started out our adventure by taking the city bus to Seattle Center.

Z spent the entire bus ride providing a running commentary on what we were doing.  “Bus stopping.  People get on bus.  Bus drive on Aurora.  People standing on bus.  Zachary, Mommy riding bus.  Bus going downtown.”  He even helpfully pointed out that the man in front of us didn’t say “Excuse me” when he sneezed, and the guy sitting next to us was wearing a dress (he was actually wearing a utilikilt, but you can’t expect Z to know that).  And once we got off the bus in Seattle Center, we stood on the sidewalk and watched it leave while Z said his farewells.  “Bye-bye city bus!  Zachary, Mommy not on city bus.  City bus going away.  Bye-bye!”

At Seattle Center, we went to look for the Space Needle (which Z refers to as the big water tower that people can ride up in elevators).  When we reached the base of the Space Needle (which happens to be right next to the Fun Forest Amusement Park) Z was excited to see the elevators going up and down the Needle.  But he was more excited to see the cars going around the tracks on the amusement rides.  So he went on several rides, including the cars (three times).

After riding the cars, the fire engines, and the carousel, we headed to the Monorail station.  We stopped to listen to the Peruvian musicians play a few songs (Z wanted to sit down on the sidewalk to “hear one more song”).  Then Z noticed the Monorail going by behind the musicians.  And he was off!  Although he loves to listen to music, it can’t compete with a train.

We took the Monorail downtown, where I loaded Z back into the Ergo.  We rode the escalators in Westlake Center several times before heading out to Pike Place Market.  Since it was a sunny Saturday morning during cruise season, Pike Place was jam-packed with tourists.  So we just walked through (with a quick stop to watch cheese being made at Beecher’s) and headed down to the waterfront to find a place to eat our picnic lunch.  The waterfront was crowded as well, but we found the perfect place for a little boy obsessed with trains:  a bench that was situated between the train and trolley tracks (the trolley no longer runs, but Z doesn’t know that and was so excited by the possibility of seeing a trolley that I couldn’t disappoint him).  We ate lunch and then called Chris and Mei-mei to come pick us up.  As a final treat, we rode the elevator to the pedestrian bridge so that we could look for trains.  Then we crossed over to the water side and waited for our ride home while watching the cruise ships.

I had a wonderful time spending the morning with my boy!  Of course I took pictures, and I’ve posted several on my photoblog.  Which, incidentally, is new (I’m retiring mamarazza).  Enjoy!