Toddler Christmas Toy Train 2011

Last Christmas my parents gifted P-Finn with a train set. Now, this wasn't any ordinary train set, oh no! This Disney-themed steam locomotive was modeled after the engine that picks up guests as they enter the park on Main Street. Finn would sit right in the middle of the oval-shaped tracks and watch the train circulate round and round, mesmerized for hours on end.

Poor child nearly had a meltdown when we had to box the train away with all of our other Christmas decorations. Right away he started to frequently ask, "When is Christmas," and "When can we get the Mickey Mouse train down?" And that started right away in January and persisted throughout much of the spring and summer.

In fact, my parents purchased their own Disney train this past fall, and gladly setup the tracks anytime P-Finn visited. Considering Walmart started to air Christmas commercials well before Halloween, my son was conned into believing the winter holidays were imminent. In response to these circumstances, my son stepped up his requests to take the train down from the attic. We politely declined until the time was appropriate.

Finn exploded with excitement when my wife finally started to remove Christmas decoration from the attic, including his Disney train. Nearly every day he falls into a meditative trance as the locomotive circles around and around. Being in the Season Spirit, I made this quick 30-second film for my son to commemorate the Christmas train (and tide him over those upcoming summer months).

Playing Little Big Planet with my Toddler as Father / Son Time

Developmental milestones never cease to amaze me. Like the time P-Finn first managed to toddle up the staircase… and into the library to grab a CD out of it's jewel case, toddle back down the steps, and successfully insert it into the DVD player. And just under two years of age. Your either born with that technology intuition or not, and my son seemed to have it.

Just saying'.

So it came as no surprise when P-Finn asked me to have the second game controller having observed me play video games. Not wanting to ruin my current high score, I handed him a dummy controller and attempted to con him into believing that he could manipulate the main character. P-Finn didn't fall for it one bit.

In what ever three-word sentence he could string together , this child firmly requested a live joystick (or else he would commandeer mine). Seeing no other possible course of action, I plugged the little guy in. Left. Right. And use the "X" button to jump. Very straight forward. And wouldn't you know, my little kid had it figured out in only a matter of seconds.

Again, just sayin'.

P-Finn and I quickly and deeply fell in love with the cooperative style of Playstation 3's "Little Big Planet." The game is a physics-based platformer set in a world of imaginative creation. Entire levels are pieced together using various swaths of cloth, cardboard, stickers, and puppets. It's all the fun of arts and crafts... packed into a video game.

The DIY theme carries straight through into the level creation toolkit. Not only did Patrick and I attempt to build our own railroad-themed levels, but we tapped into the wealth of community created levels... well over five million of them! We spend most of our time in Little Big Planet playing through the various community created, railroad levels (especially the ones created by JubJub67 and TSFRJ).

It's one thing to watch trains in movies or television, but it's something else to get behind a freight engine and virtually pull a load of box cars. There is nothing better to a train-enthused, three-year-old. And it's become one of many father / son activities we've come to enjoy together as of late.