A Day Out with Thomas

*This post has been a loooong time coming (3+ months), so to preemptively answer your question, no, Isaac is NOT still in his helmet.*

Alex is going on 4 now, and his train obsession that began around the age of 2 is still going strong. Like, he seriously knows everything about trains. He can tell you how trains "couple" together, how the coal heats water and turns it into steam to make the train go, he knows when a train should pull off into a siding and when the station master needs to "change the points". It's unhealthy, really. And while the responsible thing would probably be to stage an intervention, we decided to enable his addiction by taking him to the Day Out with Thomas in Grapevine, TX. Well, technically, Grammy is to blame since she planned the day and bought the tickets.

We didn't tell Alex where we were going, so he was in the dark right up until we walked through the gates. He started to piece things together as he looked around and saw all of the Thomas-y stuff.

Then we shared the news that he was going to get to ride on Thomas, and he just about peed himself with excitement. We had to wait in line for a little while, but both boys were very patient.

The look on Alex's face when Thomas pulled up to the station was priceless.


All aboard!

Here are a couple of videos from the ride.





And what do you do after a ride with Thomas the Tank Engine? Get tats to prove it.

I told Alex that this better be the first and last time he gets a matching tattoo with his grandma.

Alex decided Isaac needed one, too.

A few photo ops and a stop at the gift shop later, our day out with Thomas concluded. Until next year...unless, by some miracle, Alex finds a new hobby...

Brothers

Praise the Lawyer

Me: Hey Alex, you're going to meet some new kids at VBS next week, and some of them might not know about Jesus. Maybe you can help teach them.
Alex: Yeah! And I can take your little red book with the verses in it. It's all about Jesus. And God. And the lawyer.
Me: The lawyer?
Alex: Yeah, the lawyer.
Me: Who's "the lawyer"?
Alex: He's the one who takes care of us.
Me: Do you mean the Lord?
Alex: Oh right. The Lord.

Upping the ante

So the flashcard thing was pretty impressive and all, but Alex raised the bar tonight by making it through a Level 1 reader in record time. We've literally only read through it a few times, but tonight he was especially motivated to work on the words he didn't know, and I ended up videotaping him because he was doing so well.

When I stopped taping and we watched the video together, his reaction when seeing himself read a "real book" was absolutely priceless. He grinned from ear to ear, practically bursting with pride, and said, "I'm just so excited that I can read." Then he hugged me tight and said, "Thanks for videotaping me reading, Mommy. But don't send the video to anyone else because then I won't be able to watch it anymore." I assured him that we could share it with other people and still be able to watch it whenever we wanted to. He liked that idea.

So without further ado, here is Alex reading "Thomas and the Jet Engine".

Isaac...

...is eleven months, two weeks, and one day old.
...adores his daddy.

...won't have to gum his wedding cake. His upper left and lower right teeth have finally busted through, and their counterparts will likely follow.

...does not like dogs unless they are of the stuffed and inanimate variety.
...crawls and cruises.
...requires his blankie, paci, and horsie at bedtime.
...loves to draw on a Magnadoodle.

...is a good sharer.

...often hears, "Ay que lindo!" spoken in his direction when we're in public.

...likes to play in the toilet. Specifically, he likes to throw the toilet paper roll into the potty and fish it back out again. Luckily he also likes to rummage through the cleaning products, so it all works out.
...is not fond of hats. Ironic since he spent a quarter of his life wearing a helmet.

...will chew on anything.

...has an unorthodox bottle-holding method.

...holds long conversations, although I have no idea what he's saying.
...has good hair. That makes one of us.

...loves to eat. Just put his food on his tray and back away slowly, or you're liable to lose a hand.
...eats the same things his brother does, which means one less meal for mama to make.

...has been introduced to baby gates. Doesn't love 'em.

...likes to turn his bottle upside-down and watch the contents drip out.
...can stack blocks.
...claps on command.
...gives high fives.
...loves a nice, sunny day.

...will be golden brown this summer, despite multiple layers of 50 spf sunscreen.

...and his brother will soon be conspiring against me.

...wishes his baby swing would go higher.

...hollers loudly and often, mostly just for the fun of it.

...hasn't gotten the devoted nightly reading time his brother always has, mostly because he'd rather sleep than read. Planning to remedy that soon...

...is so full of joy that it often overflows and spills out of his face.