Mass Transit

We had a big day of "firsts," today. Luke played his first real game of "catch," rode the choo choo (the L) for the first time, and he finally got on a city bus (Luke hasn't figured out yet that you can't hail a bus with a finger point from your stroller on the sidewalk)!

As for the first official game of "catch," Matt and Luke passed a mini soccer ball back and forth on the turf field this morning. The key that made this effort an official one was that they were standing the minimum of 10 ft apart and the ball was passed between them REPEATEDLY. Matt has been asking about this day since Luke was in utero. It went a little somethin' like this:

Matt: "Just tell me when he'll be able to play catch, how many months?"

Rachael: "Uh, months? More like, years."

Unfortunately, the photog was still deep in slumber back in the condo so I have no evidence of said event. I guess we'll have to take Matt's word for it.

Now onto the title of this post: Mass Transit. Unlike his mother who loathes the CTA, Luke is a huge fan of mass transit. We headed downtown this morning on the L which Luke affectionately calls the "choo choo." We took the Brown line from Irving Park Rd. down to the Loop. He was thrilled to be on the choo choo - you could see the excitement all over is little face! Luckily it was pretty empty and Luke was able to play musical seats after we released him from the stroller. Of course when we got off the train, we bathed Luke with wipes and doused him with hand sanitizer.

After a few hours on Michigan Ave., we headed back home on the bus. Quite the experience. Did you know that freaks love little kids? They really, really do. When Luke wasn't entertaining one, he was trying to get off my lap and up to the bus driver. No Joke, the kid wanted to drive the bus. I should also mention that Luke has a thing for steering wheels - the ones on the playgrounds, he owns them. So you can imagine what he thought of the giant bus steering wheel.

Alas, we made it home and everyone took a nap. I've had enough of the Chicago Transit Authority for 2009. In case your wondering how I get to work since I hate the CTA (trains and buses)...I take the Metra which is the business commuter train - so much better than the CTA. Matt calls me a Metra snob because he is jealous of my civilized commute.