train

Riding the Rails

| patmcg

Today is a funny day, a single work day sandwiched between Christmas week and New Year’s Day. I was planning to send Claire off to Grace for the day, who had last week off, but it turns out Grace is still in Florida visiting her family, and does not plan to be back in Atlanta until Tuesday. So I unexpectedly have Claire for the day. After all the recent hustle and bustle of the holidays, and all the recent travel, and working on the house, I am going back to an old routine — just me and Claire, taking an unplanned day off. Losing the day to unexpected circumstances is tough, with so many things to do and so little time. But that is to worry about later; today Claire and I are going to have some fun with our day off!

I was initially thinking of going to the zoo, but it was foggy and cold and wet, so spending a lot of time outdoors did not seem ideal. But I felt sort of couped up and wanted to get out on some sort of adventure, preferably something new. With Claire’s continuing fascination with trains, I thought it would be fun to take the MARTA train somewhere. Something about zipping around the city on the train in the fog on New Year’s Eve sounded fun and adventurous. It seemed like a very Curious George type of thing to do.

But where would we go? We finally decided on Underground Atlanta because it was right by the main downtown MARTA station, and it had plenty of fun stuff for Claire to see, including, according to the web site, “caricature drawings and fortune telling, homemade candy, delicious dining and souvenir shopping.”

So I packed up a small survival and dining kit (diapers, wipes, a drink cup, a bib, a fork, and some snacks), and we headed out to Lindberg Station. As we hopped on the train, Claire gleefully yelled, “All aboard!” We grabbed the only free seat, with Claire sitting on my lap, next to a sort of rough looking guy with greasy hair, hunched over sleeping (or pretending to sleep). The train car was largely full of middle aged women all dressed in the same goofy black and yellow outfits, as if for some sort of Georgia Tech pep rally. As we headed into town, the train filled up with more and more Clemson fans. I guess there was a football game today, but fortunately things did not get too tense between the GT and Clemson fans. One of the GT ladies said something about a parade and pointed at the rough guy next to me, jokingly saying, “We should put him on charge.” She looked at me and said, “I hope he doesn’t wake up mad.” This was just funny, not scary; that guy looked harmless enough, and besides, he was way smaller than me. Once the train cleared up a bit, though, we did move to a more “comfortable” seat. During the ride downtown came the requisite Claire comments and compliments from all the GT ladies, with Claire introducing herself to our neighbors and saying, “MARTA train” over and over with a big smile.

We got off at Five Points across the street from Underground Atlanta. and didn’t get 10 steps onto the sidewalk before Claire saw something she liked. There were about 10 pigeons cruising the sidewalk among all the pedestrians, hunting and pecking for food. Claire liked to see real birds up so close, and she insisted that we stay for a good 15 minutes just watching them, laughing whenever they flew around a little bit.

I finally dragged her across the street, and there was more great stuff to look at. They were setting up for the big peach drop, which is Atlanta’s version of New York’s big apple drop in Times Square. There were food stands and lights and generators everywhere. Claire was almost constantly saying, “What’s that?” as we walked along. The camen the big wide stairs into the Underground, which was another prime attraction. We walked down each step, probably 100 of them in all, Claire enjoying every step. Awaiting us at the bottom of the stairs was a big bouncy moonwalk, like the one Claire had loved at the Kit’s pathology picnic a few months ago. I steered us clear of the moonwalk, as I knew we would not get a step further if Claire discovered it.

Inside the Underground were more wonders. We saw big colorful balloons, lots of CHristmas lights, life-sized paintings of Dora the Explorer and Mickey Mouse, a big wooden train, and lots of little kid-sized rides, including a school bus, a fire engine, and a tug boat. I wasn’t sure if Claire would be hungry yet, at it was only 11:30 or so, but when we checked out the food court, Claire said, “Daddy, let’s have some dinner.” So we split some lasagna and pizza, which Claire ate very, very slowly as we watched all the people around us.

It was getting late (in Claire terms), so we gradually worked our way back to the MARTA station, dodging pony rides and mini-carousels along the way, stopping for one last look at the street pigeons on the way back. The train was delayed, so I had to hold an increasingly tired and grumpy Claire at the platform for 15 minutes. We looked at the MARTA system map for entertainment, and Claire pointed out where she thought Mommy was.

The train ride back was different than the one down. Instead of colorfully dressed football fans, almost everyone on the train this time was dressed in dark winter coats, with dark hoods and hats, looking sort of glum and serious, or just tough. And then there was Claire, in her little pink pants and yellow jacket, happily taking her own seat on the aisle next to me. The train was pretty quiet. As the train took off, Claire said — no, yelled — “Here we gooooooo!” with pure glee. I could see some of the stone-faced passengers crack a bit of a smile. Then Claire started talking to the guy in the seat across from her, who looked like a tough hip hop artist along the lines of Dr. Dre or Big Boi. She said, “He’s happy!” The guy smiled and said hi. Claire sort of made friends with him, and he was very nice about it and said, “Is she always this happy? She is one happy kid.” Eventually Claire turned her attention back to me and said, “You’re pooping” over and over. I saw some of the people around us cracking smiles again. We finally got off the train, saying goodbye to all of our unlikely friends, waving as we walked away, fetching a couple more smiles for good measure.

We had a good adventure today, worthy of Curious George, but fortunately lacking the disasters that normally accompany George. Yes, another forced day off, and another good one at that.

You wanna cumbo?

| patmcg

We have not really even acknowledged Christmas 2007 so far at home. We have no Christmas tree set up yet, no presents piled up on display in the living room, or even wrapped, or even purchased yet. We have not even been playing Christmas music. This lack of Christmas spirit is not intentional; Christmas has just sneaked up on us this year. So today, to get our Christmas spirit kicked off, Kit had the idea to go see the Festival of Trees at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead.

We were hoping the Festival of Trees would be sort of like the Christmas Tree Forest that Kit used to go to in Corpus Christi. It turned out to be classier, smaller, and more subdued than the Corpus Christi version. It featured trees decorated up in the traditional style from several different countries, accompanied by a written explanation of Christmas traditions in that country. But it felt more like a display than a forest, and it did not exactly jump start our Christmas spirits.

So we moved on to explore the rest of the museum. Claire was especially excited to see the big, working toy train track. Along the track were little displays of things like ice skaters on a frozen pond, elves working at Santa’s toy factory, construction crews at work on the road beside the track, and countless other things to look at, each with a button to push to make them go. And best of all was the fact that Thomas the Train was running around and around the track. Things were definitely looking up.

After we saw every little thing on the train display, we went outside and came across an old kid-sized playhouse in the garden. Claire knew it was made just for her, and she went right in to explore. She explored each of the three rooms and then made herself comfortable on the little kid-sized wicker sofa. Kit and I mostly stayed outside, letting Claire explore as we chatted about little things like where the heck we will be living in two years, what jobs will we both have, who is going to be president, and other basic unknowns of the relatively near future.

Over our chatter, Claire was sticking her head out of the playhouse’s front window, looking especially cute in her little green Christmas dress, saying what we could best make out as, “You wanna cumbo?” or just “Cumbo!” We replied, “What’s a cumbo?”, but Claire just smiled and kept saying it.

Finally, when Claire said, “You want cheese?” Kit put it together. Claire was asking if we wanted a “combo”, and she was acting like she was a lady at the drive-through window at Wendy’s or McDonald’s, where they always say, “You want to make that a combo?” or “You want cheese with that?” when you place an order. Kit and I were cracking up, because Claire did this with such as big smile on her face but was also trying to act serious, like she really did want to know if we wanted the combo. At least she did not ask us to “biggie size” it for only 39 cents more.

Blue Train, Green Train

| patmcg

Claire is obsessed with Thomas the Train. As Grace would say, “Le encanta!”

For example, I bought Claire some new Thomas the Train cups. Now whenever I make her a drink, Claire ask for her new cups by name, “Thomas cup! Thomas cup!” Then she will look at the cups and recite the name of the trains over and over…Thomas, Henry, James. This is often punctuated by a loud drawn out, “Thoommas!”

For the most part, this Thomas obsession is harmless. But now it is encroaching on our bedtime reading choices. We have started asking Claire which book she would like to read, and every night she quickly says, “Thomas book!” meaning her little board book entitled Blue Train, Green Train. It is great to see Claire so enthusiastic about reading and what not, but Kit and I have come to loath that damn Thomas book.

Our dislike is not just due to boredom or repetition; we can read something like There’s a Wocket in my Pocket all night. The real problem here is that Blue Train, Green Train is just a terrible book. It is supposed to be a rhyming sing-song type of book, but the rhythm jumps all over the place, and it is very jarring to read. Here is a sample.

Unload the blue bikes,
red wagons, orange trikes!
Unload the new toys
for happy little girls and boys!

Down goes the yellow sun.
Blue train Thomas' day is done.
Home now to the Shed.
"Peep!  Peep!"  The Shed is where
Thomas can sleep.

Well done, blue train.
Have fun, green train.

Up peeps the white moon.
Green train starts soon.
"Peep!  Peep!"  Clickety-clack!
Green train Percy on the track.

Load up all the mail
and unload along the rail.

I picked this book because it has a variety of things for Claire to look at and name, like blue bikes, red wagons, and orange “trikes.” Fortunately Claire does seem to be warming up to other books with lots of stuff to look at, such as the terrific Carl the Dog books. One great thing about the Carl books is that they have almost no words.

Playing Hookie

| patmcg

Today I had Claire to myself. Grace had asked for a week off to take her family to Orlando while her kids were still out of school for the summer. With Kit on a tough rotation and short on vacation, I would have had to take the whole week off myself to watch Claire. But I could not absorb a week off from work so suddenly. As a compromise, I am taking Thursday and Friday off to give Grace and her family a four day weekend for their trip. So it’s just me and Clair for two days.

Claire started out a little groggy today, so I thought I was in for a tough day. Usually a groggy Claire is not a happy Claire. But I knew that as long as she was doing or looking at something interesting, she would be ok. No problem. Fun for her is fun for me.

Thanks to another of Kit’s great ideas, we have a yearly membership to Zoo Atlanta, so we can just waltz in any time we want to without paying a nickel. We showed up at the zoo right when it opened at 9:30 am. I was anxious to go since I had missed the last couple of trips to the zoo, opting to “go running and stuff” instead. Kit had been happy with this arrangement since it gave her and Claire have some valuable “face time” together during Kit’s tough month.

Claire might have been the only kid at the zoo without a stroller. Letting Claire walk generally works out alright, although she needs little steering or else she ends circling back on herself a lot. We started out at the “mingos” near the entrance, and we moved on to the “ephelants”. But Claire’s favorite attraction today was not any bird or large African game, or even a monkey. It was the hand washing stations, which are scattered throughout the zoo. She really loves to wash her hands at home. She has even gone so far as to drag a step stool across the house, carefully navigating over the dog gate and into the bathroom, so she could climb up and wash her hands. But the zoo faucets are extra fun because they are motion-activated. She just sticks her hand in the sink, and it sprays a little stream on her hand. Then she giggles a lot and make it go some more. This is probably one of the coolest things Claire can imagine right now. After I drag her away from the sink, she spends a few more minutes maniacally running her hands under the hand dryer, which is also motion-activated. It blows hot air when she waves her hands under it. To Claire at the moment, all this is way cooler than some smelly elephant.

Later, as we wandered past the kangaroos, the zoo’s little train chugged by, startling Claire at first with its loud rumbling engine. Once she realized it was a “choo choo train”, just like Thomas the Train, she began to literally ran after it. I had to run and scoop her up before she made it to the tracks or crashed into a gaggle of kids from some sort of summer camp. But I promised her we would find that train again.

We slowly made our way across the zoo to the train area, visiting hand washing stations along the way. Once we got there, we had to burn a little time at the playground before the train’s ticket booth opened. The playground was fun, but apparently feeling that her basic pants and shirt were not quite appropriate for this situation, Claire repeatedly requested the “play suit” that Noni Harriet had made for her.

After a little while, we got our $2 train ticket and headed for the station. Claire was excited to see the train, and pointed out that the Braves had sponsored one of the passenger cars. But she stiffened up a bit when we actually got on it. She kind of had a look like, “You can do that? Actually get on a train?” The little train seats were perfectly Claire sized, but she opted to sit in my lap, which was probably wise anyways. We were the only people on the train when it left the station. Once it picked up some speed and we got a nice breeze, Claire was finally smiling and talking and pointing out all the different animals she saw.

After about three minutes, we were back at the station. Fifteen kids were there waiting for the next train ride. I guess we were real trend setters today. As we walked away from the train, we passed a running zoo themed merry-go-round. Seeing all the kids riding on the backs of (plastic) lions and ostriches, Claire said “Cowboy! Cowboy!” I think she knows cowboys from our big “Texas Inside Out” book that we sometimes read/show to Claire.

We were both pretty hot, thirsty, hungry, and generally tuckered out by the morning’s adventures. After lunch and cool drinks at Sonny’s, we headed home and played bubbles and jumping games in the back yard, followed by dancing to An Old Navy Christmas inside. Then Claire settled in for some some quiet reading alone. It has been a fun day with Claire, and it’s still only 2:00. I would normally be joining a weekly “Public IP MLFR Development Status Meeting” on the phone right now. Instead, I get to play with Claire and tuck her in for her nap soon. Maybe giving Grace these two days off was not a bad deal after all.