This Little Piggy. . .and a Train Song

Nick really liked it when Auntie Mandy did "This Little Piggy" with him. He begged for it again and again.

Nick has become rather demanding in the car. For the last few months, he won't let me listen to NPR. "No talking! Want music. Turn on the music!" Sigh. I miss NPR, but it's not worth the trouble to fight him on that. Instead, Nick begs me to turn on music, and he's picky about what I listen to. He'll tell me, "No, not that song. Want another song!" Thank goodness I don't listen to actual children's music. I couldn't handle that in the car. I need to relax while I drive.

I'm pretty eclectic in my music tastes, but this morning some Grateful Dead came on, and I'll admit. . . I was singing along. I didn't realize for awhile that Nick was singing along, too. It was the Casey Jones song--you know the one--about the train. After the song ended, I turned off the radio to ask Nick a question, and he kept right on singing. . . "Drivin' that train. . . high on cocaine. . . " over and over again.

Yes, that is indeed partially scraped off wallpaper that you see on the walls. Having a baby slows down the home improvement plans, you see.

I winced slightly and hoped he wouldn't sing those particular lyrics in public. Eh, oh well. There are worse songs he could be singing. (And he has. Remind me to tell you about the time Nick and I jammed to Nelly's "Hot in Herre." Or not.)

Anyhow, on the way home about three hours later, Nick got mad at me when I was flipping through the stations. "NO Mommy! I want the train song! Turn on the train song!"

Then, this afternoon, he was playing with his Thomas train while singing what he calls "The Train Song." It was quite cute. So Nick has a new favorite song.

I supposed I'd better track down all of my Dead albums. We've got a new little fan.

Nick's Last Hurrah at Choo Choo Johnny's

His last hurrah as an only child, that is. On Saturday, I took Nick out for a Mommy and Me kind of day. I had errands to run, but I purposely picked places to go that I knew he would enjoy. We ate our lunch at Choo Choo Johnny's, a train-themed restaurant on the south side of Naperville.

I pass this restaurant everyday on my way to and from work, but we've never tried it. Nick was literally jumping up and down with joy when we went inside. "I see trains!" he said. Yup. In fact, a train actually delivered our food! Nick's eyes got really big when the train came, bearing a hot dog and fries for him. That's like every little man's dream!

While I cannot say much about the food other than to describe it as your typical hamburger joint-type fare, Nick has never enjoyed a meal so much. the picture below is out of focus, but it perfectly expresses Nick's state of mind.

We enjoyed our meal and then Nick got to play with the train table and some of the games. This place takes the train theme really far--the employees all wear conductor's uniforms, train-themed music plays, and a train goes around the ceiling.

This day was all about Nick, and I know he had a blast.

Besides our trian-themed lunch, we also went to garage sales looking for clothes and toys, visited Costco for some samples (Nick loves their samples), and went to the PetSmart to see the birdies and fishies.

We got a surprise when they had an adoption event. Nick wanted to take some kitties home with us, but I told him we had enough cats. We have 3, but they don't play with him like these kittens did. They actually enjoyed his attentions!

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Choo Choo Fun and a Trip to the Podiatrist

(Just so you know, the choo choo fun had nothing to do with the podiatrist, I just stuck the two topics together for this post. After I wrote the post title, I was imagining how many different ways the choo choo set could cause me to have to see the podiatrist. I figured I'd better clarify.)

One of Nick's birthday presents (from Grandma Toni) is something called the Geotrax Timbertown Railroad. It's a remote controlled train set meant for two-year-olds, and Nick loves it. If the train gets off of the track (stuck, as Nick would say) all he has to do is put the train back on the orange part and it realigns itself.

Nick plays with his little train just about every day, and he loves the remote. (What man doesn't?)

So if no one stepped on the train, why the podiatrist visit? Well, ever since I had to put away my cushy, comfy flip flops, I've been having intense foot pain in both feet, and my regular doctor recommended I see a specialist. I had to take Nick with me, and that's why I'm writing about it. This visit was pretty hilarious in retrospect, though I was just a little mortified at the time. It's the moments like this that I don't want to forget.

When I was called into the examining room, Nick immediately discovered the rolling stool. He pushed it all over the room and put his monkey on it. Then, he greeted the doctor at the door with a big, "Hi!" As the doctor sat down and started asking me questions, Nick went behind the examining chair and located the control buttons. He started making the chair go up and recline. The doctor thought this was pretty funny. I helped Nick sit in a chair at the other side of the room, but a soon as I sat back down and took off my socks, he crawled down. Then he stood right by the doctor.

As the doctor examined my left foot, Nick came around to my right side and grabbed the other foot, repeating everything that the doctor did. "Sock off," he said. "Mommy's toes!"

The doctor found the problem immediately. Apparently I have something called "acquired equinus deformity of the foot (x2)," plus a contracture of my achilles tendon. I walked on my toes as a child and that screwed everything up. So I have to see a physical therapist and get some orthotics for my shoes. Sigh. Makes me feel vaguely geriatric, at the grand old age of 32.

The main thing the doctor talked about was the tightness in the muscles on the back of my calf and in my foot. Nick actually kept repeating what he said. "Too tight!," said Nick, holding my foot. "Mommy foot tight." I'm wondering if Nick might have a future in medicine. My son, the podiatrist.  :)  Nice thought. I bet he'd make a good doctor. He's already picking up the bedside manner. Perhaps I should get him a doctor's kit for Christmas, so he can begin to work on his skills.

Wordless Wednesday: Captions Please!

Wordles Wednesday!