The baby on the bus goes ...
We're back to being normal Portlanders, at least temporarily. For Judybat's birthday -- which was yesterday for those of you who are keeping track -- I gave her the ultimate gift: The right to ride her bike to work. Judy's mom needed the car to entertain the home-for-spring-break TheBoy. So I did what any self-respecting hippie would do: I strapped TheGirl to my chest and rode the bus. She loved it. There were lights to stare at, and that soothing rocking motion, and people to observe everywhere she looked. For a few minutes, at least, the trip broke me out of my post-partum anxiety fog and made me feel like a competent parent. Look, I'm out with my child! We're taking on the world! (Then, of course, I arrived at work and immediately had to go into my closet to pump.)
This may be our new mode of transport. We have been piling the entire family into the big blue car. But if TheGirl can stand staying at daycare until 5:30 or so, she might become the tiniest bus commuter in town.
posted by AnnaRay at 9:22 AM
4 Comments:
I've been hoping to start bus commuting with my little munchkin soon. We'd have a short ride in the car to the in-town loading spot and then we'd ride all the way out to Gresham together. The trick is in coordinating the gear... bottles of mama milk, cloth diapers, and other incidentals. With babe on my front and pack on my back, it might balance out! Can't wait to try it out... and best of all, if my older son goes to the new pre-school we're looking at, it's on the same bus route! We could hitch a ride to the in-town loading stop and then have two stops on our way out of town. Ahhh daydreaming about taking public transportation...
The idea of taking TheBoy and TheGirl on the bus still terrifies me. They would probably be fine, but I fear I'd lose my cool. Then TheGirl would start wailing. Because she can smell our fear.
I totally hear you on the lose the cool thing. It's so hard to be on a work schedule and then be at the mercy of the bus schedule and the kids' school schedules and then there's food and diaper schedules that come up from out of nowhere at times! I'd still much prefer it to driving every day. There are some days where it just won't be feasible due to all the stuff I'm hauling. But if the weather gets better consistently, that's the first step!
Our daycare is, thankfully, fairly low maintenance when it comes to stuff. Milk, the occasional diaper and change of clothes, and that's about it. They're also good about letting us keep stuff there so we don't have to do all that much hauling back and forth.
The past couple of days, I actually got The Times read while riding the bus with TheGirl. It was the most relaxing time I've had in months.
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