Look, Scooobus!

 



Nirav, our two-and-a-half-year-old grandson, loves Scooobus! 

a.k.a school bus.   

A hand-me-down-toy school bus is among his favourites. It often surfaces, after days, in one of the innumerable boxes filled with toys that are strewn about the house. With a delighted, "Scooobus" Nirav runs and picks it up. He spends the next few minutes playing with it - for some reason always lying on the floor. 

Spotting a school bus pass by on the road while he is in a park or in a car, or even if he is looking at a picture of it in a book or a phone, brings on an excited, "Paati* look Scooobus!" (*Paati - grandma- that's me🙂) 

Recently though Scooobus came even closer... into Nirav's exciting little world! 

Both Nirav and his older brother Pavy, our first grandson who just turned five, have been going together every morning to the Daycare across the street. This changed a month ago when Pavy started kindergarten at the regular school that is a little further away from home. Pavy now takes the...(guess!) ...Scooobus! 

However, Nirav had not yet had a chance to see Pavy go to school. He gets dropped off to daycare before Pavy's bus arrives and gets picked up in the evening after the bus drops Pavy off.  We did however tell Nirav that Pavy goes to school in a bus, but he did not seem impressed!  Which is why I was keen for Nirav to see Pavy's bus. 

Soon an opportunity presented itself. On a Friday evening, before setting off on a family weekend trip, I got Nirav from daycare first. Then off we went, Nirav and Paati, to get Pavy... 

....and see Pavy's Scooobus! 

Normally a five-minute walk up the hill to the bus stop, we set out fifteen minutes early. A useful decision - for we made numerous stops enroute to look at little beetles, tiny ladybugs🐞, spiders 🕷️, bumblebee...We watched trees "shaking" in the breeze...and importantly stopped to examine every drain along the sidewalk to see if there was water below. We crossed the street after looking right and left and telling each other " No car! Good to go!" Despite our many pauses we were at the bus stop in good time, with a few minutes to spare. There were dads and moms already waiting. 

But Nirav did not want to stop! He kept walking further up the road. Luckily, I spotted his friend Sophia. She was at the bus stop with her parents to get her older sister Claire.  And even more luckily, Sophia was digging in the mud and had found a roly-poly! 

That got Nirav's attention and halted his rebellious strides! Both Nirav and Sophia were down on the mud peering at the roly-poly, which had rolled into a tight ball. Clearly the bug was not used to so much attention. 

And then...... finally.... there it was....

Nirav heard it first. He turned and saw the long yellow body trundle down the road. His eyes opened wide. As it came closer his eyes grew bigger and bigger. He began to jump in excitement as he pointed and squealed in absolute delight, " Paati, looook Scooobus!"  

Then the bus stopped - right next to the sidewalk where we were waiting. He looked up in utter amazement. He had never seen a school bus this close. Not taking his eyes off the bus, he said in awe, "Paati, biiiiiig Scooobus!" 

Soon the door of the bus opened and all the neighbourhood kids began getting off. Nirav kept up his excited jumping accompanied by finger pointing and exuberant comments, “wheel...window..." Then he suddenly let out a shriek, "there's Pavy!"  

What a thrill!

As Pavy was getting down he caught sight of Nirav standing next to me. His face broke into a surprised grin! He came running to us and pointing to the bus said, "Nirav look that's Pavy's School bus!" Nirav, still jumping, repeated, "Pavy's Scooobus!" 

We began walking down the hill towards home, a motley bunch - school kids, some siblings, moms, dads, a couple of pets and one grandma! But Nirav's adventure was not over yet. For we heard the bus revving up. And there it was again driving past us down the hill. Nirav, Pavy and Paati - the three of us stopped to look at the bus driving down the hill...

...and chorused together, " Bye bye Scooobus!" 

Nirav & Pavy with Sophia & Claire