Train City (In Our Living Room)

Over the past few months, my son's obsession with trains has heightened.   We moved from the Thomas Wooden Railway collection to the Thomas Trackmaster Train sets, where the trains now move themselves.

Train Heaven

"Look Mommy!  Watch Percy go!"

It all started when Grammy (my mom) took him to Toys R Us to buy him some Trackmaster tracks and a train of his choice; he chose a remote control Percy.  He was so in love with his new train set that he asked me if we could make something special for Grammy, and so one evening last month, my husband, Little Lewie, and me all gathered around the kitchen table to help make Grammy a special card.  Once the card was done, Lewie grabbed a few toys to put around the card, and then proceeded to call Grammy to come over to our house.  (She lives next door.)  He turned off the light, and when she came over, he flipped the light on and yelled "Surprise!!  I have something special for you Grammy on the table."

My husband and I just looked at each other and grinned;  it was one of our proudest moments.  The whole surprise for Grammy was Lewie's idea--from the card, to the toy gifts, right down to shutting off the light...

A few weeks later, Lewie got another Trackmaster set for Easter and a few more trains from the Easter Bunny.  Now my living room looks like this...

The Polar Express is by the window, his Thomas Trackmaster set is in the middle, and his train table is on the right.

I must admit that it's been fun watching this "new stage."  For years, I've been watching my son push trains around on his train table and making comments like, "Watch out, Express coming through."  Now he's been putting his own train tracks together, making all sorts of interesting mountains, tunnels, twists and turns.  

The only problem or minor complaint I have with this stage is that we don't have much room. Our kitchen and bedrooms are tiny, so the only available space in the house is our living room, and let's just say that both Mommy and Daddy have been known to trip on these masterpieces a LOT, especially when we forget about them in the dark.  

Oh well, seeing that it gives him hours upon hours of enjoyment, it's a small price to pay.  Lewie will be the first one to tell me, "Mommy, I'm using my imagination."  Yay for trains!