Enriching experience for the day

There are a few areas where I suspect I'm lacking as a parent, a few enriching experiences I fail to provide on a regular basis. I almost never get out the markers so Isaac can draw, and he doesn't even own any paints. I seldom play music CDs for him, maybe just once or twice a week, and he doesn't take a music class. I only let him play with water when he's in the bathtub. But at least I finally took him somewhere on BART. (For my out-of-the-area readers, that's the Bay Area's subway -- assuming the subway had far too few stops and shut down at midnight.)

For a long time I've suspected Isaac would enjoy riding the BART train -- he's always excited when we see it pull up to the station in our town -- but I was too nervous to try it. What if we couldn't fit the stroller through the turnstiles? What if the elevators were out of order? What if Isaac got fussy on the train? But today I faced my fears and we rode BART to Union Square in San Francisco, where I returned four pairs of pants at the Levis Store. It was surprisingly easy.

My brother came along to provide logistical support for the journey -- I wasn't sure I was going to be able to juggle Isaac, diaper bag, shopping bag of pants to be returned, and stroller -- but it wasn't necessary. However, it was very useful to have him keep an eye on Isaac while I was at the customer service counter, and while I did a little additional shopping. The two of them hung out on the grass in Union Square and watched the traffic roll by, and in 30 minutes I think Isaac saw more buses than he had in all his previous 19 months.

Man, what with the train itself, the buses, and the cable cars, Isaac was in transportation heaven. He kept shouting, "BART train!" as we left Union Square and walked back down to the station, and he was still thinking about the train when we got back home. As usual, I waited until he was sound asleep before I set him down for his nap, so I was alarmed when he sat straight up in bed -- oh no, was he going to wake up? -- but instead he just said, "Train!" before he lay back down again, still asleep. It was like the serial killer in a horror movie briefly rising up from his grave to give the heroine one last scare. But much cuter.

Speaking of areas where I'm lacking, even before Izzy was born I didn't take frequent advantage of the cultural benefits of living in the Bay Area. Yeah, I went out now and then, but it's not like I was at museums and the theater every weekend, or even every six months. But going to the city today was so easy, and Isaac is getting old enough to enjoy a little culture, so maybe now I'll try to provide both of us with some enriching activities. Besides just the ride there on the train, that is.