My Son, the World Traveler

Some days I'm convinced they switched babies at the hospital. He doesn't like sweets, won't touch a cookie, and finds pratfalls funny. Today another event took place that convinces me he's not mine.

Although we were told that some snow was possible here starting around noon or so and picking up in the afternoon, it turns out that the incoming storm shifted slightly and we're getting heavier than expected snow earlier. The Boy went off with his dad, and I set off at about 10 am to do some quick errands to get supplies and the weekly groceries (and the only white stuff in that was milk, as it's the end of the week, so no scoffing) and a couple of other errands. As soon as I set off, I realized it was already turning yucky, so I went to a place where I could park underground and walk to all the stuff I needed. At 11:15, I leave the place and head home. The roads were hideous -- completely untreated and zero traction. I could not reliably stop, start, or stay in a lane. I inched home and parked the car. So now I have a dilemma, as Boy is not at home. Dad lives up a hill with a garage down a ramp, so driving there (or Dad driving him back) was looking less and less like an option. So I decided to use the public transportation I pay so dearly to live down the block from, take the metro two stops, walk six blocks carrying the Boy's snow gear, and then get him, make the reverse trip home. I figured it would not be super easy, but not super difficult, and way better than getting in a car.

I was so excited -- Boy's first trip on the Metro! The trip there wasn't too bad (nippy cold), and I got there, defrosted for a few minutes, got Boy all bundled up and started back home. He was chattering for the first few blocks (from what I could make out, Daddy fed him pancakes), and then he was quieter but good as he made me carry him. We get to the station and go down, down, down. He's fine, and wants to run around the train platform (no way, thanks to monkey backpack). The train comes in two minutes, we get on, the door close and.....waterworks. He's scared and bursts into tears. He doesn't like the train moving. Thankfully we only have to go two stops. He kind of calmed down at the first stop, but when the train started moving again, he started up. I suspect it was that he walked into something that looked to him like a room, not a car, and then it started to move on him.

I love trains, subways, and mass transit. What happened? This is not my boy.

On another note, one of my errands today was to GET MORE MOVIES for the Boy, so that when we're snowed in, there are more longer things we can watch besides "Follow That Bird". I kind of wanted cartoons and music, but they were out of The Lion King and Aladdin. They were also out of Shrek, and that was running out of things that I was pretty sure he would find interesting ("Hello, Donkey!") Which feature cartoons can I get that a small kid would actually like and I can sit through multiple showings? As a note, I can't stand most classic Disney. Most of them scared the crap out of me as a kid, and they're all kind of creepy. So no Bambi, Fantasia, or Snow White. I did get Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. We'll see how those go.