Thomas the Train Land

Sam's new thing is Thomas the Train. Ironically enough, he is not a fan of the cartoon, because not all the trains have "happy faces", (sidenote: these trains are really competitive with one another, several are very grumpy and, as a lot, I find them somewhat catty) but he adores reading the books and he can entertain himself for hours with his train tracks, once Elise or I set them up for him.

When we go to the grocery store, we have to be careful when we navigate the bakery, because they have this $45 monstrous Thomas the Train birthday cake that Sam wants every time. I told him that if he poops on the big boy potty he can have a Thomas the Train cake and I will write on it, "I pooped on the big boy potty" in phosphorescent neon blue cursive icing. Elise caught Sam going in his diaper and was quick enough to get his diaper off and get him over the plastic mini-potty before it fell. We're not sure if this counts or not.

Sam had really good behavior last week. He excelled at everything we had asked of him (with the notable exception of changing his diaper and taking his pjs off in the morning...this usually ends in Sam experiencing his daily "morning breakdown" as I've come to dub them), including being a superb big brother to Pete. He gives Pete his paci and holds his hand when he gets upset or restless (i.e. in the car) and has not hit or kicked him in weeks (except for yesterday, but that is a story for a different blog entry). As a reward, we got Sam Cranky the Crane and told him we were going to go see Thomas for real.

The Six Flags in Maryland has a whole Thomas the Train Land with a life-sized Thomas the Train we rode. Sam also got to ride in a helicopter with dad, a hot air balloon with mom and rode not one, but three trains! (he also 'got' to eat a soggy corndog and Dippin Dots...one was a hit the other not so much...can you guess which was which? :)

Yes, it was 94 degrees that day, but it was worth every penny and every drop of perspiration. When we arrived in Thomas the Train Land, I hadn't seen that degree of awe and wonder since he saw his new, bright red trike on Christmas morning. He was in heaven. He literally ran into the park, grinning from ear to ear. I know Elise and I couldn't have been happier, either. I watched him sprint away, wearing shoes instead of his usual Croc sandals, because I knew there would be a lot of running that day. There was.