Tales from the bus – destination: 5 years old

‘Mummy, why do some buses start with W?’ the Wee Man asked me curiously, as we sat on the bus home from holiday club.

‘It’s because they’re local to a particular area’ I informed him ‘so buses that just go around Waltham Forest start with W’.

What about N buses?’ he continued.

‘Well, that means it’s a night bus’ I replied. ‘Night buses do special routes that only run when it’s very late’.

‘Are M buses morning buses then?’ he suggested, looking intrigued.

‘Er, no, there aren’t morning buses, only night ones’ I responded. ‘Buses in the daytime only have a number, or sometimes a letter like W if they are local buses’.

‘I suppose it’s because M is taken, for MARS BUSES’ he proclaimed excitedly. ‘Then you know which buses can go into space!’.

‘I’m not sure buses really do go into space’ I mused. ‘I think that’s more for space rockets’.

‘I will tell the space centre!’ Wee Man enthused ‘they might not know their rockets need to start with M. When we get home, we can find their phone number and remind them, just in case! People NEED to know that rockets can go to mars so they MUST start with M!’.

These are the kind of conversations we have, now that the Wee Man is five.

Five years ago, as I stared into tiny blue eyes looking up into mine, and stroked his tiny feet, and marvelled at his tiny fingers, I had no idea of the journey that lay ahead. Not to mars, but equally as amazing.

In five years he has learnt so much, and so have I. I have remembered what it is like to be a child, how exciting it is to learn, how much wonder there is in the small things.

The Wee Man has learnt to count, to read, to write, to climb mountains and to swim. He has made friends, he has developed logic, he has understanding and reasoning that lead to some very interesting conversations and make me rethink the way that I see the world too.

The days of toddlerhood and preschool have been outgrown. I look down, but not so far down as I once did, and see a boy looking back at me – a big schoolboy, with a grown up haircut and long long legs. When did that happen? How did five years pass so quickly?

I hope in five more years you still see the wonder in the world, Wee Man. Five years ago, I never imagined that now we would be having complex conversations on buses. And I have no idea at all what we’ll be doing in another five years. But I’m looking forward to seeing where we end up!