No, I don't mean that. If you are the parent, or grandparent of friend of any small boys, aged 2 to-who-knows-how-long-this-will-last, you know that "poop, poop!" is the sound that a train makes when it whistles its greeting to another train. At least, you'll know this if you are familiar with the Thomas the Tank Engine stories.
You all probably know by now that my tastes in kids toys runs along the lines of timeless vintage classics, wooden waldorf-ish granola fare, with plenty of little cars on the side. I generally am not a big fan of most of the current toy franchises. My kids don't watch tv (yet), partially because I hate the fact that almost all children's shows are just one giant merchandising tie in/commercial for toys that kids will beg their parents for. Also, they are often a bit on the sexist side. And where are the black/aisian/eurasian/hispanic people? Yeah, I know, there's Dora, but don't even get me started on how they had to add Diego and also, have now made Dora thinner and her clothes pinker. That's another post. All this is to say that I'd prefer, when I have a choice, to encourage my kids to play with open ended toys that don't have a pre-existing narrative to close off their creative choices.
But as the Little Dude gets older, and casts his eyes about him, my chances to steer his toy choices are starting to wane.
He's always loved cars and tractors and diggers and trains. And at the local library book sale last fall, we found a large hard cover anthology of Thomas the Tank Engine stories. The original ones, with the art work that looks like somebody drew it, instead of having been spit out by a computer. He loved the trains, and I loved the old-fashioned-y-ness of it, and it got read. A lot. And I don't quite know when he got his first train. Probably he saw them at the book store (where they have a large play table with trains set up). Birthday money from Great Grandma arrived, and when I asked him what he wanted to buy with it, he said "Thomas the Tank Engine!" Since then, any gift giving occasion has seemed to produce one engine or another. And he LOVES them. And I wouldn't say I hate them. He plays pretty creatively with them, and they are not obnoxious. But there aren't many girl engines, that's for sure. Some, but not a lot.
But I'll tell you, he loves, loves, LOVES building the tracks for them. When the Baby is awake we put all the pieces up on the dining room table where large, circular-ish tracks are built. But when the Baby sleeps, everything can be put on the floor, and long, lovely meandering tracks weave their way under tables and around chairs. I'll admit that I'm pretty impressed with the configurations he comes up with (like this swirly loop at the end, with a roundhouse in the middle that he made the other day. And there are many cries of "poop, poop!" and "peep, peep!" as Thomas and Gordon and Toby etc. greet each other. But less pleasant are the many cries of "I need a new engine!" One of the larger sets that came in a big box with all the tracks, also came with a little book, somewhat misleadingly called "The Yearbook". What it is, is a catalouge of all the possible Thomas the Tank Engine toys that are available for purchase. And boy, does he look at that book a lot.
"Mom, mom, what is THIS guy's name?" he says, pointing to the book.
"That's Murdoch."
"Can we buy him, mom?"
"Not right now love."
"After lunch them mom, can we buy him then?"
sigh.
Just today he called me to his room during quiet time to say, with all the emphasis and intonation of a parent promising a toddler a treat:
"Mom, I'm thinking of a good idea. After quiet time, we can go, me and mom, to a train store! Is that a good idea?"
And everytime I have to break it to him that, no, we are not going to a train store, and no, we will not be getting a new train any time soon. Probably not until his birthday. In the summer. He does not like the sound of that. And the other day, during the pre-dinner witching hour he was moaning and whining around the kitchen and I said to him, "you seem a little bit cranky." "You know why I'm cranky?" he replied "I'm cranky because I need a new traaaaaaaiiiiiinnnn." Uh-huh. I can honestly say its was making me pretty cranky in that moment too.
But we've hit on a plan. We have a little jar marked "Train Money" (see above) that is full of the coins he is saving for a new engine. So the other day, after lunch he excitedly jumped down from the table and said "I know mom! You know what we should do? Lets go and find some more money!" Yeah, I wish it was that easy. Oh my boy, everyday is full of learning, and these days, he's learning that money cannot just be 'found'. So our plan is this: we're going to have a garage sale in the spring. I've promised him that when all the snow is gone we will take our grown-out-of clothes and old books and toys, and we'll have a garage sale, and all the money from his stuff can be taken to buy a new engine. He's quite keen on the idea. He's started a little box of books he can bear to part with, which is great. Of course, spring is a long ways away.
But I think he'll survive until then.