Toddler Times
I Can’t Keep Up With My Toddler.
Meeting George at the NC State Fair 2011. Poor guy, the sun was right in his eyes!
Watching Harrison grow his personality & discover his preferences has been the greatest joy of parenting for me.
Seriously.
Watching him take his first steps brought joy to my eyes, but watching him light up to anything with Lightning McQueen made me just as happy. Why? Because it was HIM. It was Harrison, down to his core, with stars in his eyes & love in his heart for that little red car. Nothing I had done created this moment – it was all Harrison. I just adore watching him become his own person.
But I’ve found that toddlers have a version of ADD where they jump from love to love to love with no warning or stop. & I’m struggling to keep up.
First, it was school buses. The kid hollered for school buses every morning during out commute & ignored every toy except his Little People school bus. He died a little toddler happiness death when I framed a print of a school bus for his bedroom. & he even slept with a tiny Matchbox car bus!
Then it was Curious George. That sweet little monkey & his friends, both in books & the 8am television show on UNC TV. Every morning, he pulled up his little stool in front of the television & watched an episode of “George,” all while wearing a tshirt emblazoned with a monkey’s face! As a present for switching to his “big-boy bed,” Harrison opened Curious George sheets. He was thrilled! This lasted for several months & for his second birthday, I planned a Curious George themed party, complete with stuffed monkeys as party favors.
Much to my dismay, by the time the party rolled around, Harrison had moved on from Curious George. Sure, he still enjoyed that little monkey, but the big guns belonged to LIGHTNING MCQUEEN! CA-CHOW!
Yesterday in the bookstore, Harrison marched right past Curious George…right past Lightning McQueen….& headed straight for Thomas the Train. Oh, my. Thomas the Train?! When did this happen? When did Cars become “so 2 years old” & Thomas the new toddler currency? & how am I supposed to keep up with what is “cool” at the moment? Is toddlerhood just training me for the teenage years, when I’ll buy him a new pair of jeans that he loved the week prior, only to find out they are not “in” anymore?
p.s. to my own momma, I’m so sorry for doing that to you with that navy sweater from Abercrombie!
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9 Comments
Kim commented on Dec 11 11 at 10:12 amOh, Thomas is awful. I’m so sorry you’re there now… I can’t wait ’til Jack gets over it!
Sam commented on Dec 11 11 at 12:10 pmsee if you can switch it to Chuggington from Disney…its much better and still all about trains…just not as bad a Thomas!
Lisa commented on Dec 12 11 at 7:05 amOoooh yeah Thomas is pretty awful. and somebody’s always cross in Sodor.
Arnebya @What Now and Why commented on Dec 13 11 at 10:19 amZ hasn’t shown an interest in Thomas yet. He’s definitely moved on from Elmo, only wanted Barney (ugh) for the songs, and Yo Gabba Gabba is a thing of the past. He actually really likes Dora. Pays no attention to Diego. With the magic of YouTube, though, we’ve found that he LOVES Mickey Mouse. All things Mickey Mouse. Unfortunately, a clip of the Teletubbies was offered at the end of one of the MM episodes. I ran through the dining room to grab the mouse as fast as I could because OH HELL NO!
Courtney Anne commented on Dec 13 11 at 3:28 pmAh I second the immediate action you must take concerning Thomas. See if he’ll switch to Chuggington on Disney…it is sooo much better!!!
Also, R has been obsessed with all things Elmo for the 6 months leading up to his bday (this Sunday)…his newest OBSESSION (all caps, completely head-over-heels obsessed) is trains. So I quickly switched to a Train-Sesame Street themed party. Much to my delight, when I Googled trains and sesame street birthday there has obviously been one other toddler out there whose passion is split between the two! It feels good knowing there is a kindred spirit out there lol.
Heather commented on Dec 16 11 at 10:54 amAddie is into Thomas and has been for a long time. We took her to see him (Twice!) this summer when A Day Out with Thomas was touring NC, and she still talks about it every.single.day. Honestly, I don’t mind Thomas. The stuff is easy to find (her favorite toys are her Thomas tent and there will be a new set of Thomas books underneath the tree this year) and I dig that she’s into trains just as much as she loves her babydolls. While it can be a little boring, I’ll take it any day over some other shows (I’m looking at you, Caillou!). My only real complaint is that a lot of the Thomas stuff is expensive, and they don’t have a lot of options for little girls (we have boy pjs and had to have a friend embroider a shirt for her to wear to Tweetsie Railroad).
I do love seeing the new things she decides that she is into. Her little personality is BOOMING right now. Seeing her happily play at her train table while wearing a ballerina tutu makes this mama’s heart nearly burst.
Krista commented on Dec 16 11 at 12:21 pmI must be one of the few people in the world who actually does not mind Thomas and prefer him to many other popular shows.
ashley commented on Dec 16 11 at 1:08 pmChuggington is WAY better than Thomas! My son has also recently gotten into Thomas, and I can’t stand it… I find it so depressing compared to Chuggington! In about 6 months we gone from being obsessed with mickey mouse ( second birthday was MM, complete with an enormous amount of mickey presents ) to george, to cat in the hat, chuggington, cars ( mader ) thomas…. my way of not falling into the trap of each obsession is to not buy toys for every one. It’s hard to resist when you’re in the store and they go running to cars yelling Mader! not to buy it, but I don’t want my house over run with licensed toys….
Helen commented on Dec 17 11 at 10:07 amThomas is no where near as bad as Mickey Mouse!
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