the trouble with thomas

The trouble with Thomas is that my two-year-old loves him. And cannot possibly be without him. He must take him with us wherever we go. Along with his friend Stanley. Or Henry. And his tender. They often end up in my bag or my coat pocket or my pants pocket. Sometimes I get to just carry them. Sometimes he puts them down when we are out and about. This happened at Target in the dollar spot. There was a period of panic with Zach yelling, "Stanley, where are you?" over and over. I was frantically searching the bins looking for Stanley determined to find him before some lucky soul came along looking for $1 junk and ended up with our $15 Stanley. That's another problem with Thomas. He and his friends (and there are so many of them) are not cheap. We try to purchase them as bargains on Amazon or when they go on sale. The trouble with Thomas is that he has so many friends and so many buildings and so much track. It's so enticing. You could fill up an entire room with Thomas paraphernalia. That's the trouble. We have to steer clear of those Thomas aisles or we end up with a puddle of sobbing toddler, a grouchy mom, or a new Thomas accessory. The trouble with Thomas is that he has tracks. Tracks that sometimes come apart. "Broken track! Broken track! Broken track!" I hear this several times each day, and everything must stop until the track is repaired and Thomas can thunder along as he wants to. The trouble with Thomas is that all of his stuff has to be out on the floor all of the time--even when it is not in use. The trouble with Thomas is that he and the metal chairs at church don't get along. He makes way too much noise, and everyone can hear that Zach brought his trains again. The trouble with Thomas and assorted friends (especially tenders--just found one that has been missing for ages under the car seat today) is that they are small enough to hide--under couches, behind bookcases, in cabinets, in the fridge, under beds--and little tots can't remember or explain where Thomas is hiding. So then Thomas is lost resulting in tantrums and tears by the toddler. So what is Zach getting for Christmas? More Thomas stuff, of course!