Trolley!

So, it's a scorching Saturday in the Bluff City and the wise thing to do is to pull the blinds and hunker down in the air conditioned comfort of home.  Which is what we did for the majority of the day last weekend.  Mommy and Daddy even managed to stay in bed for several hours after the child woke up (at 8:15, the little darling!) by sending him on various errands to retrieve toys and books from the four corners of the house.  Josh refers to this as Meth-Parenting.  Not meth as in "method", like "method acting", but meth as in methamphetamines.  You know, the latest drug scourge to hit the urban scene.  I argue that if we were really being like meth-parents, we wouldn't be interacting with our son, but rather pushing him away in a drug-induced stupor.  As it was, I believe we were creating precious memories of reading Dr. Seuss and eating Cheerios in bed on a steamy Saturday morning.  But I digress.

Although we managed to pacify Walt with indoor activities for the morning, once he was up from his nap, Walt was no longer content to be contained indoors.  At about 4:00, Josh and I peered cautiously out of the blinds, determined that we couldn't actually see the heat waves rising off the street anymore, and decided to take one for the team and leave the house.  But where to go? 

"Tra-ee?"

"What's that, Walt?"

"Tra-ee?"

"Ah yes, the trolley!  A capital idea!"

Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely his idea, but as was mentioned in a previous post, Walt  is quite the fan of the downtown trollies.  He took a ride on one last month when he and I went downtown with Kate and Meredith to vote, but it was very quick.  So Daddy had the idea of going to his office, picking up the firm trolly passes (because I guess we're too cheap to foot the $1 fare?) and riding the whole riverfront loop.  So off we went.

As much as he adores watching the trollies from afar, Walt wasn't too sure what he thought of actually riding one.  Here "Mum" (which is what he is currently calling me) gives him a little pep talk.

He warmed up to the idea after sitting next to Daddy for a while.

And then he just plain warmed up.

Poor child inherited his father's internal thermostat.  They are sweaters, those two.  To cool off, we stopped on the plaza with the fountains.

Ah, much better.  But here come the trollies, so we gotta hop aboard.

This time, Walty is an old pro at the trolley thing and decides to point out the sites to us.

"Now this, Mum and Daddy, is the Mississippi River.  It is made of water.  Which is why I am frantically signing 'water'."

As usual, a good time was had by all.

This afternoon, we had to run an errand that was close to downtown and as we headed that way, I noticed Walt paying special attention to the passing scenery.  Suddenly, from the backseat, I hear,

"Tra-ee?"

Not this time, Walty.  But definitely again soon.  Very soon.