First Shoes, First Subway Ride

This past Thursday, my Mom, the baby and I took a last-minute venture into Macy's, where my Mom bought the baby his first pair of shoes!! They are Stride Rite "walking shoes", as the shoe saleswoman called them, in black - casual enough to wear with jeans, but also can be worn with something dressy, because my son is ALWAYS dressing up (NOT)! He was professionally measured, he's just a little larger than a 6, so we bought a size 7 (I think he has big feet for his age). My Mom was over the moon, as was I! The baby took it all in stride (no pun intended). He was fascinated with a four or five-year old girl who was also shopping for shoes; he walked right up to her, staring her in the face with wonder and adoration. She, like most girls that age I suppose, wasn't feeling the attention and started whining to her Mom, who told her to "Be nice!" I politely told the baby to say "Bye bye," and led him away.

Much to our pleasant surprise, the Macy's Flower Show was in full bloom while we were there, so we partook in the floral delight. It was the first true warm and sunny day of Spring and completely crowded, and the baby was mesmerized by all the faces and activity. The flowers were gorgeous! The real crowd-pleasers were the trio of tiny birds in a cage. Poor things were subjected to flash after flash as visitors endlessly snapped photos.

The next evening, I took the baby for his first subway ride, all the way up to his Great-Grandma's house and then back down to meet K at the theater. He seemed to completely fit into the subterranean routine; he wasn't afraid of the noise of the trains at all. I carried him in my Ergo (which was slippery against my leather sleeves, though) and sat him on my lap during the ride. He spent almost the entire ride silently watching the other commuters. When he did begin to fuss slightly, I nipped it in the bud with his favorite snack, Happy Baby Organic Yogurt Melts. He eats it like popcorn. I didn't manage to snap a photo of our subway debut because I was too preoccupied with making sure he was okay on the train (and my phone lost its charge as soon as I reached my Grandma's house). When we got to the theater to meet K to go home, the baby was very comfortable with all the folks there. He wasn't necessarily chatty or even that smiley, but he wasn't crying. He was just very observant. It was like he's at home with artsy performer folk. He was having a great time walking up the very slight incline of the aisle and then using the slope to propel him as he "ran" back down. He also played "hand drums" with his dad onstage. It was very cute.