Sodor News

CRB has a lot of Thomas the tank engine toys, most of which where acquired within the last 2 months or so, with a noticeable surge coming from Christmas. I did not expect to be one of those train moms, but I am. The train set, err sets, are doing so much for him on so many levels that I constantly am encouraging train play and I freely buy him new additions. It's amazing to me what he learns almost every time he plays with them.

A few days ago I was speaking to one of my great neighbors about CRB and the trains and she said that she wanted to get some of her 11 year old son's (we'll call him Ripstick) old stuff out of the attic and bring it over for CRB. Yesterday during naptime, they brought us a several plastic cartons full, and I was excited to be able to loan Ripstick three fun PS3 games in return :)

When CRB awoke from his nap and came into our kitchen he was stoked to see James and his tender, Annie and Clarabel, Catherine and her truck, a useful engine shed, a rock tunnel, a suspension bridge, and another cargo box and box car. (Slyly I hid most of the stuff for another day...) We had a great time integrating all of these pieces onto the train table.

Later that evening, when MeMe and I were doing something else, CRB brought a basket of "tack to play, tack to play trains" to us. What was in the basket? Keep in mind that this was the basket that I had used to carry the trains stuff from the kitchen to his room earlier. Every single new piece that our neighbors had brought him that afternoon. Nothing else, none of the standard favorites like Salty, Duck or Diesel, but only the "new" stuff, just like we had played in the kitchen before.

I was really taken aback by his ability to sort his stuff (and it is a lot of stuff, too embarrassing to list), from Ripstick's stuff.
After seeing this, MeMe said that she had a better understanding of how important these trains were to him. To him, they aren't just another toy. It's an adventure, a story to act out, a possibility to build.