Tuesday Train Day - Stanley

This week was Winter Break and Chai Tots was closed. I don't understand Winter Break. I guess it's for rich people, so they can take their families skiing or somewhere warm. For the rest of us, it creates a childcare nightmare.

On Tuesday two of your classmates came over, so we didn't get around to Tuesday Train Day until Thursday. You wouldn't have been the wiser, except that this happened to be the week that Daddy bought you a Thomas the Train calendar and started making a big deal about writing in your plans for the day and trying to teach you the days of the week. I was hoping to pretend that Thursday was Tuesday, but that stupid calendar ruined it.

I was burned out on museums, and in any case, Winter Break meant that all the museums would be overrun. So we took the train to Target. There aren't very many big box discount stores in NYC, so going somewhere like Target or K-mart, some generic national chain with wide aisles and cheap imported merchandise is a novel experience. More novel than going to a museum, which are everywhere.


It's only four stops on the R train to Atlantic Station, and the Target. You've been to Atlantic Station so many times now that you know the drill. We got off the R and you stood on the platform to watch it leave, then you looked across the platform, waiting for the express trains to come. Lots of express and locals came, one after another, and you monitored them all. We were the only people on that platform standing still.

Finally, there was a break in the trains. I waited for the crowd to thin and then we made our slow voyage up the stairs. You like to watch the track as you ascend, to see it from different perspectives. I have to time our ascent carefully. If another train comes while you are watching, you will try to reverse course back down the stairs for a closer look.

Last week we changed to the red line, so at the top of the stairs you took off running, headed for a 3 train which had just pulled up. I kept you off that train by reminding you of the Henry I promised to buy you at Target. "Henry and his COAL CAR!" you clarified, at the top of your lungs.

Target was a bust. Some Winter Break hoard had clearly razed the train selection earlier in the week, and the only trains left were a Stanley, a Henrietta, and two purple Charlies. Who the hell was Charlie, we both wanted to know? You have the complete collection of the Reverend Awdry's stories, totaling 415 pages of trains, and we have never met any Charlie before.

You kept asking for Henry and his coal car and barring that, Gordon and his coal car would do. I eventually got you excited about Stanley by reminding you of the story we'd read where he helped Thomas when Thomas's brakes failed. After that you wouldn't stop talking about Stanley. You wanted to go back on the train, go home and hook him up to the other trains immediately.

When we got home, you told me over and over to vacuum the floor, because, "Stanley no like a dirty floor. Stanley need clean floor." The next morning you brought Stanley to the breakfast table. In addition to being a neat freak, Stanley is a picky eater. He didn't touch the eggs, toast, or Turkey Food (aka yoghurt), that you ate, and repeatedly insisted on rice and beans. Then he told me to vacuum again, because Roan had dropped eggs on the floor and made it all dirty.

Stanley and I are not going to get along.