Trains are taking over my home.
At first my toddler’s little Thomas the train fixation was relegated to watching Thomas & Friends on the television before bedtime. Then a neighbor gave us a train table and train track set that their child had outgrown. Now everywhere I look there are trains!
My son has The Polar express in the DVD player for after bath time. He watched Polar Express while I clean his ears, brush his teeth, and clip his nails. He sleeps with Thomas, Percy, and Salty. His flashlight is a talking Thomas flashlight. He is all about the choo choo trains!
Thomas is not the only train in town anymore. Oh no, now there is Chuggington. Chuggington is a cartoon on the Disney channel. My toddler just loves these new trains. He even knows there names. He cannot say all of his Aunt’s and Uncle’s names yet, but he can tell you who Koko, Brewster, and Puffer Pete are.
These trains are an expensive habit to have. Especially if you are purchasing the wooden train sets. Imaginarium, Thomas the Train, and Chuggington all have wooden train sets that can work universally with one another. At least this is how they are advertised. I went to Toy’s R Us to use a gift card William received as a gift only to find that they do not carry the Chuggington Wooden Railway sets. There is nothing worse than having your toddler get super excited about his new toy train, then get home only to discover it is incompatible with the train set you have.
When the train doesn’t fit the toddler doesn’t play. My son loves to line up his trains and drive the caravan around his train track. When the trains fall off the track because they aren’t made for the set, he gets incredibly upset. Meltdown with tears and screaming upset. It is not a pretty sight.
As a solution we have quarantined the non-wooden railway trains to the upstairs. These trains are now sleepy-time trains. Now if we can just keep them upstairs. The trains have a tendency to go wherever my son goes.
The obsession with trains happened all at once. One day we were oblivious to trains. Then all of a sudden we were saying “Choo Choo” and “All Aboard” and wanting to watch Thomas & Friends and The Polar Express all the time. Now everywhere I look I see trains!
Is your child obsessed with something? If so, what are they obsessed with and how long do these fixations usually last?
