Trains!

I've finally figured out that when the play area is messy, the kids ask for more tv. When it's tidy over there, they play with their toys... which, of course, makes it a mess. It's a vicious cycle, but at least it's one I recognize. Well, we cleaned up yesterday and look what happened today!

It's a mess again, but they got out their trains!

Sharing

The little guy let the baby play with some of his train tracks this morning before school. She was SO excited about it.

He didn't want me to take his picture, though. Maybe tomorrow.

Light at the end of the tunnel...

The little guy got ahold of my camera again (despite having his own):

I'm going to open an Etsy store for him.

Three Things

1. We got to see a real train up close and personal this weekend. It was pretty amazing! And loud! The little guy covered his ears, but the baby didn't seem to mind at all.

2. I was singing Rock-a-bye Baby to the little dude while holding him in my arms and it was kind of painful and awkward. When did he get to be so long and bony?

3. To end things on a sweet note, the two kiddos continue to enjoy their floor gym.

Spring is Springing

They had a great time at daycare today. (Yay!)

Changing the subject, the little guy got to dye some Easter eggs this past weekend thanks to an awesome cousin. He loved it!

He also has been making his little sister trains. She loves him-- she just grins and giggles at her brother whenever she sees him. It's kind of heartbreaking.

Rail transportation engineers

The boy and I have been having a great time playing with his trains the last several days. The process seems to go like this: Goose will put together a long string of tracks that will includes splits and such, then he will holler for me to connect his track. Here are a couple of our masterpieces.

When we're not inside designing tracks we are outside. This past weekend the weather was gorgeous. So nice we walked downtown and supported a couple of the local businesses. Most specifically the frozen yogurt shop! That is one huge bowl of yogurt for the little man.

Christmas Train

We took the Santa Express train ride today with my parents and both little ones. The giant child was enthralled with the train and the engineers. He was glued to the window and almost completely ignored Santa Claus and Santa's elf (who was handing out candy canes).

He was like this the entire ride, even when Santa came by.

When we asked him who gave him the candy cane, we got a blank stare. I said "Did Santa's elf give you the candy cane?" and he replied "No. It was some lady dressed up in red and green."

This one just slept.

Dog(-Free) Days

While we were down South this weekend, we had lunch outside at an amazing park. Their fresh-squeezed lemonade was delicious.

The little booger really wanted to ride the train, but we told him we could go another time.

As we were leaving, we saw that it only cost $1 a person. Yikes-- I'm kind of embarrassed that we said no! We really will go next time!

Mr. Specific

I drew the little stinkpot a train on the patio today. He's getting to be quite particular. He wanted a blue engine, then a white caboose, then a cargo holder, then another caboose, etc. Yikes! Here he is telling me who should go in each window.

In the caboose in the foreground (he has a limited understanding of cabooses), you can see a skirt, a skirt, and a jacket in the windows and Beau on the back porch.

Victory from the Jaws of Defeat!

This is what the little stinkpot did to my our gorgeous train track:

And this is what Eric did the very next morning! (He's great!)

Success!

Here's our awesome train track!

It's so cool.

More Trains!

The little booger tore up his old train track and stacked up all the pieces yesterday. We started on a new track tonight. I've got big ideas for this one-- I'm trying to figure out a bi-level, figure-eight track.

The little stinkpot is getting in on the planning, too. This is SO MUCH FUN!! (for me)

He seems to be enjoying it, too.

Playing Trains

We've been working with the little stinker on using sentences. Instead of saying "CEREAL BAR!!! Please?" he's supposed to say "May I have a cereal bar please?" or some reasonably polite variation on that theme. It's kind of hit or miss, but I think we're making progress.

Tonight he came over to me and said "Mommy, would you like to play trains with me?" so I said yes, of course! He built me a train and we each pushed our trains around the track. Exciting!

Trains and Nana!

The little booger's Nana kept him today so that we could go to work. They had a BLAST. The little dude gave his Nana a hug this evening and said "Thanks for playing baseball." It was soooo heart-meltingly cute.

He played with his trains a lot today, too (as usual). He's started carting trees around in his train cars just like he's seen in this video.

Trains!

Ever since watching a video starring a really long train, the little dude has been building really long trains.

Woah! That's a long train!