Bonding in Boston

Yesterday Jupiter and I went to Boston.

We almost didn't make it. Jupiter was making some spectacularly bad behavior choices on Monday, at school and at home, and while I came close to taking away our trip to Boston, I invoked a different consequence and we went to Boston. It went really well and I'm glad we did. The Boston Children's Museum has a day in November when the Boston Ballet comes and does various Nutcracker ballet activities for the day. This is right up Jupiter's alley, although she's opted out of taking dance lessons for the moment. She still likes to listen to the music, watch the video, and when she's home, will dance to the music in fanciful costumes she contrives out of the materials in her closet. Last year, when I wanted to take her to this activity, I happened to check the museum's website the day before we left and it was cancelled. This year, it was still on.

We also went by ourselves. Jupiter has made several trips to Boston now, but I've always had a second adult go with us. It comes in handy when I want to do something like have privacy in a little bitty bathroom stall while not saying "Don't touch that! That's icky! Do NOT look under the walls at the other people! They want privacy!" Jupiter was a bit concerned, when we left, that neither Elmo or Totya were coming with us. But I also wanted to prove to myself that this was something we could do and it would be okay. Lots of parents bring their kids to the Children's Museum with only one adult.

And we had a great time! Jupiter was SO well behaved and so patient while standing in the huge line outside of the museum when we arrived, even though we got there right when we opened. She saw a big Obama sticker someone had put up on the fence and yelled "MOM! That's OBAMA! I know because he has short hair!!!" (I'm very proud.) We had to stand in line more to get tickets for one of the performances, but we were successful there too. (Best part of the performance, when the children were tug of warring over the Nutcracker and it broke into two pieces on the stage, and one of the boy spectators shouted "AWESOME!!!!!!" Jupiter got her picture taken with the sugar plum fairy and the prince, and listened to two minutes of the music show but decided it was too loud. Too many brass instruments too close to our ears. And despite the throngs of kids and the noise, she coped like a champ, and played on the boat and in the Arthur room and climbed in the giant three story climbing sculpture. (Kids love the climbing sculpture. Mom's stand at the bottom or at various strategic places on the stairway yelling "Don't go too high!!!!") I even got her to eat a bite of banana as she ran by, while I sat on a bench and watched her play. Just giving her a chance to do her own thing and experience something as long as she wanted too. And oh didn't she look cute in those little orange rubber fisherman pants she wore!!
After the museum, we had lunch at McD's in South Station. It was marginally less expensive than the Au Bon Pain at the museum. Then we rode the red train and the green train back to Newton where the car was. I had planned to take the commuter rail from Newburyport (since Amtrak from Portland was $60,) but we left our house about 14 minutes too late for that. So I park at Riverside station and take the T into the city. Jupiter loves the subway. I could drive her to Boston and just ride her around on the T all day and she would think it was wonderful. She picked up many treasures including a used scratch ticket, a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet written in Spanish, and something about Hell. Didn't get a close enough look at that one to see what it was all about or whose point of view it was. I like that we can go to Boston and she gets to feel comfortable on public transportation and being in the city. Sometimes we go down without a specific destination in mind, but it always ends up being a day of rushing to fit too many activities into too short a day. On the green line back to the car, Jupiter was affectionate and loving, and I was so glad we'd gone on the day trip, and even more glad we had the one on one time.

We got home at 6:15 and she was in bed and asleep by 7pm. The other great thing about going to Boston is all the walking. And stair climbing, if we go to Government Center. It totally mellows her out so the next day she's often more relaxed than usual. I was in bed by 8pm, too. Bonus!!