Me + My Boy + A City Bus

Have I ever mentioned Truman's good behavior jar on this blog? I found the idea on Pinterest, of course, and made this out of an old spaghetti jar.



I get to decide what warrants a rock in the 'caught ya being good' jar and what does not. So there isn't any of the, 'Oh, mommy, I'm going to share this toy with CC and then I get a rock,' junk. No. I don't bribe him with 'if you do this then you get a rock,' either. But if I notice him sharing with his sister or being overly patient or sweet, or listening really well to me I will tell him that I'm proud of him and he gets a rock. Kind of like a random act of kindness and good behavior from my three year old---that's what will earn him a rock. He gets super proud of himself and loves dropping that rock in the jar. He also gets two rocks for every morning that he sleeps in until 6:15 am or later--which is when his Tot Clock is set to turn yellow. I know. He's an early riser and anything before 6:15 feels a little ridiculous, so rocks are had in the 6 o'clock hour.

It took a good few months to fill this baby up but he did it! I just counted and there are 53 rocks in there--maybe too many because it did seem to lose momentum after the initial success of random great behavior;) I already had these decorative rocks, though, and realized that all of them would fill the jar nicely.

We have been talking a lot about what special activity he would get to do once the jar was filled. I didn't want it to involve BUYING a toy or something, but I wanted it to be an activity that Truman picks to do 1:1 with a parent as a reward. He has always loved city busses and I remember when he was really little, one of the first paired words he could say was 'see-tee buth' (city bus in toddler speak). Every day that we drive to Lori's we see quite a few city busses and one day he said, 'Maybe I can ride one with you sometime, mommy. Then go to the mall and look at the train table.' Ever since then he would tell me that his special activity would definitely be a city bus ride to Barnes and Noble and back.

He put the last rock in the jar over the weekend and immediately got excited about his reward. Then I realized that I have no freaking clue about the Milwaukee Transit System and I had to ask my father-in-law which bus line I'd take to the mall. And had to ask where the stop is located. And he gave us bus passes. So yeah, if it weren't for Nate's dad I would still be totally clueless and was still pretty nervous about attempting this feat.

I had promised to take Truman on Tuesday because Nate would be home that day to stay back with CC, but of course was the day after Cecelia's most horrible night. I was tired and it was raining and I was simply not into it. But I forced myself to just get out and do it without too much planning or thoughts because I wasn't thinking clearly anyway. Nate looked up the times that the bus came to our preferred stop---and we had exactly 15 minutes to drive there, park near our favorite Starbucks, and get on the bus. So T and I hustled butt out the door after packing my purse, monkey went in a small backpack, we grabbed and umbrella and T agreed to wear his new hat from Nate's golf course he took over the weekend. We were set! But not until I made Nate take a picture of us, duh. I look tired, huh?


We drove to the Starbucks and although Nate had said, 'The stop is right by the church,' I didn't see it right away. Looking back on it afterwards, I realize that there are two separate  stops right there--an eastbound and a westbound, located in slightly different spots. Totally clueless at the time but somehow I happened to spot the correct bus stop we needed and didn't even notice the 'wrong' one---which is good because it would have really stunk to go all the way downtown and then back out west again after that. When I finally saw the correct bus stop (not even knowing there was another 'wrong' option right next to me), I parked somewhat near by, and hurried T along with me arriving there JUST as the bus pulled up. Apparently three year olds are still free on the bus, so I handed over one ticket and we were on our way...just as it started to pour! Truman was seriously giddy he was so excited. I kept showing him all of the places along the way that we frequent but mostly I think he was just happy to be sitting in a seat without a giant harness across his chest. We kept looking at each other giggling and saying, 'we are riding the bus!' Simple pleasures, right?





The ride took about 15 minutes total and then we were at the mall---or at least right outside of the parking lot. The driver asked if I knew where to get back on (it was pretty obvious I had never done this before) and then told me it was across the busy street we were on currently. Ick. I grabbed a pamphlet to figure out what time it would be available and we made the trek across the rainy parking lot, into Barnes and Noble.



Truman loves the Thomas train table there, so we played there, read a few books, found a Lego table, and window shopped for other fun toys. I think his Christmas list may be a mile long this year.







(head-butting my rainbow bridge)






We went to the bathroom and snapped a few selfies (duh) and then T said, 'Maybe we should go back home now, to see daddy and CC.' Deal! I just had to decipher the pamphlet's grid to guess at when we should be at the stop 'across the street'.



I wasn't sure of the actual name or number of the stop but thankfully I know my way around the city enough to realize we needed the 'eastbound' bus. Made a guess and read that the bus would be there at 10:11. It was 10:07 and we still had to haul it across the parking lot and busy road to get there...in the rain! Truman rode the escalator down with me again, holding my hand and getting excited to be back on the bus, and then he let me carry him (and the umbrella) all the way to the bus stop. This kid is no featherweight, btw. Totally lost my sopping wet flip flop in the middle of the busy road, too. I got it back, don't worry.

We literally got to the stop RIGHT as the bus was pulling up, again. Snapped a pic and got on, happy that I had successfully navigated us onto the correct busses and stops without much research ahead of time. So unlike me.


We had fun on the way home checking out our ticket stub and snapping pictures. Both times on the bus we were riding with about 3 other people total, so I felt like I could snap pics and be that weird/overly documenting mother without much shame;)












As we got closer to our stop I decided to stand up to make sure the driver knew we wanted off, and I let Truman pull the 'stop requested' cord---which he loved. Not sure that is really kosher with bus-etiquette but whatever, I didn't want her to pass the stop if nobody was getting on right there. We hopped off, I took this adorable picture, and then I got a big hug from Truman.


Such a fun, fun date we had together and I had forgotten all about my lack of sleep as I watched my oldest light up with excitement over this 1:1 time. He was so well-behaved and I kind of thought I might burst with pride over him at that moment. Note to self: more mommy-son dates are needed in the future.

We got back to our car (still raining, sigh) and Truman said, 'Hmmm, I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?' I didn't, and then he said, 'Maybe we should go into Starbucks.' This child can read my mind sometimes, because I really really wanted to get a coffee and extend our time together but didn't want to be the one to bring it up because there is really no need to frequent SBux as much as we already do. But okay, twist my arm kid!!









After that we finally headed back home after playing in the rain a little bit more. Truman told me he had a lot of fun on our date but, 'Next time I want daddy to come with me.' Ha! No problem, buddy! Too bad Nate napped for a solid 2 hours while we were gone :/ Daddy was out of commission while mommy was lugging you through rain puddles, buddy, so I guess you will have to deal with me this time.

Now I'm trying to convince T to let me dump out the rock jar and start again but he isn't quite ready to see those hard-earned rocks out of the jar, I suppose. By the time he does fill it up again I wouldn't be surprised if he picks a different 1:1 activity anyway. But we might be riding the city bus again in the future just for fun.