We’ve been downtown several times since moving to Seattle, but we’ve always gone with Tom. Yesterday was the first time I ventured down by myself. It turned out to be no big deal, I got on and off the right buses without issue. Scotland being the champ that he generally is, was no problem, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day downtown. A concert by Charlie Hope was our reason for heading south, but then we figured we’d make the most of it, and hit Penzies spices, a loved greek cafe, Zaina, and Pike’s Market for fun. I walked around more than I have in the past and enjoyed seeing all the high end fashion boutiques. It reminded me of New York and the energy and wealth so apparent in big cities. I’m not a city girl, but I do love to visit from time to time!
The highlight for Scotland was the bus rides, by far. He LOVES riding the bus. He chattered away during both trips, pointing out his observations and asking lots of questions. He is also always a fan of street performers so we stopped to watch the acapella boys band, the banjo player, the paper horn player, and the pianist. Unfortunately, when we were downtown and he was riding in the stroller I couldn’t hear what he was saying, so I missed all his interesting observations. (Seeing the world through a toddler’s eyes is hilarious! Totally tangential, but while we were at lunch Tom called. He mentioned that he’d forgotten to bring a lunch so he was just having a frozen burrito. I told Scotland that when I got off the phone. He made no return comment. But last night when Tom got home and they were doing their nightly “chat” Scotland said to Tom, “You had a burrito for lunch? It was very cold?” It hadn’t occurred to me to explain that the procedure one takes when eating a frozen burrito.)
As we talked over our day that night over dinner, I mentioned the concert, the ferris wheel, the big boats, the fountain, etc that we had seen. Is there anything else that you remember? He thought about it for a while and then said “The theatre!” Sure enough we had stopped to admire the 5th Ave theater. I’m always amazed by how much he absorbs. Sometimes I’ll come away from a day like yesterday and wonder if all the hassle was worth it, but then over the proceeding weeks he’ll refer back to it, ask questions about it, and make connections to it, and I am reminded how important new experiences are for children. (For all of us really!)
