Day Out with Thomas

With all our posting about Noah, you might have thought we had forgotten about our other son.

You remember him.

His name is Sam?

He certainly hasn't let us forget about him, and has been amazingly open to having another person living in our house. We weren't sure how he would respond because when we were in the hospital, Sam ignored Noah. But since getting home, Sam has been extraordinarily thoughtful towards Noah, kissing him goodnight, looking for him to tell him stories, and even calling out for him to come and play trains.

Still, we wanted to do something special for Sam to remind him that he remains an important part of our household. So for Father's Day, Sam's Granddad and I took him for a Day Out with Thomas.

A Day Out with Thomas is a carnivalesque experience where young children and their parents are overloaded by Thomas. You get to meet and ride on Thomas, sure, but there are also Thomas games to play, Thomas storytimes, Thomas videos on continuous loops, Thomas temporary tattoos, Thomas coloring and stamp pages, Thomas train tables, Thomas balloons, and even a petting zoo and magic show. Sam is nuts about Thomas and was in heaven from the moment we arrived. He walked around in a daze for most of the day, wandering from one event to the next. We went to get his tattoo and he muttered that he wanted a Henry tattoo and then stared at it for several minutes, mesmerized. When we rode on Thomas, he sang train songs to himself under his breath while taking in every detail through his wide blue eyes. Seeing the experience through Sam's eyes was a delight and made my father's day.

I was most pleased that even though there were boys and girls everywhere all vying for a position at the Thomas train table or wanting a seat on the train, Sam remained polite and shared as much as possible. When he got his picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt, he walked up and shook his hand, taking the character a bit aback as he flustered around getting Sam in position for a picture (you can also see his Henry tattoo in the picture). When he was playing at the train table, a kid took Henry from him until the mom made the kid share. That sharing took the form of splitting Henry from his coal car and letting the kid play with Henry and Sam play with the coal car. Sam knew Henry couldn't function without coal, so quietly reattached the coal car to Henry and found another train to play with (but not before dropping the kid and making him beg for mercy. Not really, but some of those kids would have). All in all, Sam behaved himself and stayed right next to us and had a grand day out.

As you might imagine, our house has been nothing but Thomas since Sunday. So you'll forgive me if, due to lack of sleep and immersion on Thomas, I call you Henry or whistle at inappropriate times.