Light posting around here lately. That’s not because I’m slacking off, I swear. But we took advantage of our looooong Easter weekend to visit one of my favourite cities – San Francisco. I have only visited it a few times, but every time I go I find another cool neighbourhood that I love. This time it was Noe Valley, where my brother is now living.
I really do love how forthright Americans are. They talk to each other on public transit! Canadians, at least Vancouverites, are so much more reserved. There was the man at the cafe/laundromat who opined on P’s behaviour, the women on the bus who hopped up to give me kleenex when Margot threw up in my hand, the mother at the park who asked P if he had to go pee. (I think her exact words were “If there’s one thing I know about three-year olds it’s that when they have to go pee they hold their ‘man-parts’. And you were holding your man-part.”)
Of course frankness has its downsides, like the punk who yelled at us that P was too big for a stroller. Um, yes, because it’s so easy for 3-year olds to walk four or five miles – and so much fun for the adults walking with them. P doesn’t actually ride in a stroller much at home, but when you’re on the go all day on foot, I’m glad he still tolerates it (and sleeps in it!) Whatever dude.
I think my kids are pretty good travellers. P is great on the plane, once the TV gets turned on. He gets a faraway smile that lasts the whole flight. M is happy as long as she’s in your arms. Both of them will snooze in the stroller and/or the carrier while we tour the city, even when we’re doing boring stuff like shopping or having coffee.
P did complain that he was a little homesick for his trains. We brought a few tracks and some trains, but it didn’t really do the trick. Normally in the morning he will entertain himself for at least an hour playing with his cars, or Toy Story figurines, or (most recently) his trains. He couldn’t do that on the trip and as a result got quite squirrelly and mischievous. But once we got out of the house, he was his old self again, more or less.
I am so excited to do more travel with the kids as they get older. Alison Gopnik, in her book the Philosophical Baby says that travel is one of the few times when adults get to experience the world kind of like children do – with that sense of wonder where you absorb every detail. Even taking the bus is an adventure. But of course small kids don’t realise what an adventure travel is, so they just continue to experience the world in their usual way.
J got a Lonely Planet book with travel ideas for his birthday and it had some fantastic ideas for kid-friendly travel. My current dream is, in a couple of years, to take them to Lapland for Christmas. Apparently they have a whole Christmas village there, and you can stay in a snow hotel. I want to do it when they’re old enough to kind of “get” it, but not so old that they no longer believe in Santa. Wouldn’t that be magical?
But after four days of travel with two little ones, I feel kind of like this. I actually fell asleep in front of the TV last night, which is unheard of for me. The one thing I can say about travel with two is that it’s not exactly restful, at least not yet.
