It started with an innocent hand-me-down

how it all got started 

As I have mentioned many times in this blog Bear is Thomas obsessed! And for the sake of humor but mainly to capture these memories for myself I will try to explain in better detail how this all came about. It all started with a hand-me- down train table given to us by an amazing family at the preschool I use to work at. B wasn't even walking yet but he would cruise around the table to play with the trains.

 Fast forward to when Wolf was born and we had just moved to Oregon. We had yet to have Bear ever watch TV and we started letting him watch 5-10 min clips of Thomas online. Still hesitant from letting him have too much screen time this continued for a few months when I was really in need of time.  Well 5-10 minutes a few times a week was enough to get that ball rolling and soon the word "Thomas" was in our vocabulary. When he turned 2 I started letting him watch full episodes a few times a week. This just created a snowball affect on what had already started. When he wasn't watching it he was playing, talking or reading about him. The characters started becoming daily names mentioned in our household. More Thomas gear started popping up from who knows where (FYI Grandparents LOVE when their grand kids are into something it makes it easy to spoil them). Which brings us to present day. Though we try to keep screen time to a minimum there is a guarantee that if the TV is on it's on Thomas. Thomas and all his friends are still part of our playtime routine and conversation and we have  even adopted a few of the slogans to help praise our kids "Bear you were brave and bold, nice work"

Before kids I thought I was never going to get my kids commercialized toys. They were never going to wear character clothing (for the record Thomas is the only one that has slipped through the crack of that rule) I snubbed my nose at any of that. And yes as a parent I could have chosen to not allow that to happen but honestly it happened in such a slow progression that by the time I noticed it did it was too late. And at that point are you really going to yank your kids prized possessions out of their hands??? C'mon that is just cruel! Plus the old shows aren't half bad, I mean  Ringo Starr is the original narrator and the morals lessons are good. So if I had to chose a show and character for him to obsess on I am kind of glad it's Thomas.

Think your kid might be Thomas obsessed take the quiz

1. your little one refers to colors by characters "blue like Thomas, green like Percy etc."
2. despite having other toys all their games are played with their trains (ex my son plays babies with them he will put them to bed and feed them)
3. they have a type of character toy or accessory for any part of the day. Bath toy, dinner plate, pajamas
4. they pick out Thomas pajamas for bed
5. they change into their Thomas shirt or underwear in the morning
6. You yourself have a favorite narrator. Mine is Ringo Starr, husbands is Gorge Carlin 
7. You have a preference between the live model original shows or the CG shows
8. you have had a Thomas/ train themed party (2x points if you had it for more than one year) 
9. All your family member know about it and buy or send thing because "it made them think of you guys"
10. Your little one adds the characters to your nightly prayer list. 
11. Your kids know all the character names even the random ones that have only been on a few episodes. 

If you have answered yes to anyone of these questions, chances are you are on the road to Thomas mania. Enjoy the ride and let your kids have fun.