January 12 Delightfulness ...

Tuesday:  Let me start by saying that yesterday I drove back to Rockford and re-visited Aunt Candy's Toy Company ... because you see ... I've been looking at some battery-powered engines for my wooden train sets and found one on-line that I really liked and almost ordered it via Amazon--but I also remembered seeing it the other day at my favorite toy store. I wanted to take a closer look--something you cannot DO on-line. I miss Toys-R-Us!

This is the engine I purchased. BRIO #529. I named it the very unimaginative name of BIG RED. It's much easier to use than the engine Kaity so generously gave to me about a year ago. That engine, "Lady" is an older Thomas the Train model and it is difficult to operate. This one is super easy to operate ONCE you get the batteries in. Getting the batteries IN, however, was no easy feat!

See the yellow buttons on top of the engine? The first button (the one nearest to the smoke stack) is the forward button. The middle button stops the engine. The third button puts the engine in reverse. The tiny yellow button, the last one, can be switched when you want to use the train manually (without battery power). The buttons are easy to push and actually DO what they are supposed to do! When the engine is first starting up there is the very cool sound of a BIG locamotive starting -- "chug, chug, C-H-U-G" and the front lights go on too. The reverse button triggers the sound of an engine backing up -- "ding-ding-ding" and there is a red back-up light.

Well! Let me tell you ... Big Red was a BIG hit with my three kiddos today. They played and played and played with him!

I also purchased a turn-table which was also wildly loved by all. I pre-made the layout so as not to frustrate the kiddos today with trying to get everything to work together, etc. They did very well with the layout and didn't seek to make any changes (a minor miracle). I learned something interesting about Aidan today--his favorite color is GREEN. I had a little "catalog" that came with the Brio engine and as he looked through it, he found a duplicate of BIG RED only it was a very bold GREEN. He requested (in the strongest of terms) that I buy BIG GREEN for him. His birthday is in early March, so I will certainly attempt to do that for this little love of a boy. He let me know several times today that when he grows up he wants to be: "Onety-e-weven" which Brendan very patiently and humorously explained means: 111! I said to Aidan: "You mean you want to be 1-1-1-?!?!?! "One-one-one!!??" At which he cracked up.

Dear Mr. Aidan had to be reminded quite often bout sharing--something his strong personality struggles with. Erin immediately (about 90%) acquiesces to Aidan's demands ... will walk away, and then sneak her way back into playing. Brendan, however, keeps trying to play even though Aidan is barking orders at him. I found that I had to physically remove Aidan from the area for 10-minute segments just so Brendan could play without interference. I wasn't punishing Aidan--I played with him elsewhere, and then we would come back into the room together.

Aidan always requests that we play with my Magnet tiles too. He LOVES to build with them and is super pleased with his creations. I love to see his look of accomplishment as he views his finished work.

We did a bit of coloring too ... a few train pictures while I was gathering lunch together in the kitchen.

Erin loves to color. She was a bit confused, though, when she picked up this very light-lavendar crayon which she told me was "poyple" (her favorite color is purple) but when she colored with it, she could barely see the results. I switched her crayon out for a darker purple and then all was well.

Little Erin built a lot of stuff with the magnet tiles too. Watching Aidan built, I heard her say in her little tiny voice: "Wow, that's a-MAZ-ing!" I wish I could record it so that you could hear how she says it--so completely darling!

We also played with all of our cars. If you are wondering what on earth the blue painter's tape is doing on my wicker coffee table ??  ... it keeps the glass top from falling off as the kids play with the garage--plus it makes really good roadways that lead in and out of the garage.

I designed a church ...

Erin played with the little magnetic people, making them beds to sleep in, etc.

Brendan played with everything too throughout the day. He is very dear to my heart. He kind of wanders around my house doing this and that and is overall contented and seems to be happy to be here. I hope so, because I will miss him terribly when he gets too "old" to enjoy coming over any more.

At the end of our time together, we lit the candle in my little snowman. Isn't he cute? I took the kiddos home by 5:30. Oh--and I met their new nanny today. She seems marvelously qualified, at ease, interesting and kind. Thank you, Lord, for watching out for this dear family of mine.