Toddler Games and Choo Choo Madness

Who knew that you could spend 30 minutes running in circles around a dining chair in the middle of the kitchen, and it'd be the best game of the week? It got even better when I put a discarded tension rod on the floor and we had to step over it on each lap.

I don't know how Declan did it. I got dizzy after 5 laps, but fortunately, we were going nice and slow.

Another game we discovered was Flying. I'd lay on my back, and Declan would flop on top of me. Then I'd lift him up toward the ceiling and tell him to put his arms out wide. That makes him giggle non-stop. I get in a little workout by doing baby presses, too.

Then there's the pig game. We only play that when he's in his crib for bedtime. I do the Five Little Piggies on his toes, and he screams with laughter on the 5th little piggy going Whee, whee, whee all the way home. Then he sticks his other foot up in the air and says in a demanding, toddler way, "Pigs!" So we play pigs about 6-8 times every night.

His all-time favorite thing right now, however, is trains. Or choo-choos. He got a Thomas the Tank Engine book for his birthday in March. The first day, he made us read it to him 12 times. Then he wanted to read it multiple times every day, and it's all he wants to read at night.

Then we went to Christian's house a few weeks ago to play in the pool. Christian had a bunch of Thomas the Tank Engine toy trains with magnets in them, so they'd snap together. He and Christian were fighting over them most of the day. One would pick them up and run off with them, then he'd drop some, and the other would run in and scoop them up. Neither of them has the concept of sharing down yet, but that's okay. They're both just two.

Oh, you have to take a look at the video of them eating strawberries. Actually, Declan loves his strawberries, and devoured his right away. Christian wasn't used to eating whole strawberries and was taking his time. Well, he took too much time, and Declan decided to take the strawberry right out of his hand and run off with it. Christian, in a bit of a delayed response, decided he wanted his strawberry after all, and took off after Declan. So cute!



Anyway, now Declan has his own Thomas the Tank Engine playset, with three little trains to play with. His new favorite word is "snap", because the trains snap together. And we frequently have to take them away during dinner time in order to get him to eat his lunch or dinner. Sometimes, he demands that we sit and play with him, and while I love spending time with him, as an adult, I admit that I get quite bored running trains around a circle track after about 10 minutes. But it's still loads of fun. I like it when Christian can come over and they can play together. Or at least side-by-side and steal the trains and cars from each other.

We're supposed to meet them at the park this Sunday morning so they can play together outside before it gets beastly hot. Of course, it depends on whether or not we get any of that tropical system that formed overnight around Florida. I'll take the rain over anything else right now. They're more than welcome to come play in our house!