Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in greater los angeles, CA

Okay, he's not actually a baby anymore, but it is his first bus ride, and that sounds better than "Toddler's First Bus Ride."  Since he started talking, one of the 2-year-old's favorite things to shout is "BUS!"  He shouts it when he actually sees a bus, or when he sees a truck or other large vehicle, when he finds a toy car that looks similar in shape to a bus, and especially when we hear the garbage trucks come down the street on Monday mornings.  I don't know why it's such an occasion, but the weekly works of garbage collection trucks is a fascination to my children, and they must watch the vehicles until they are down the street and gone around the corner.

On a day last week when I found myself home for the day with only the 2-year-old and hours to kill, I decided to take him on a bus ride to give him the thrill of his young life.  The only bus I've been brave enough to take since I moved to the Valley is the Orange Line which opened in 2005.  Four years later it still looks new and because the route is dedicated, it's a quick ride with not too many stops.  An easy check of the timetables on Metro.net showed me that we could catch a bus at almost any time, so I drove over to the Balboa station at my leisure, around 11:00 AM on a Thursday.

The kid quickly figured out what he loved about riding the bus.  Buying the ticket!

For most of the ride, he sat in my lap, staring wide-eyed around him, taking it all in.  I managed to get him in his own seat for long enough to shoot this photo.