Train! Train!

"Train, Micah. Train."
That's what grandma and I would call out as we drive to playgroup or the science centre. We are always on the look out. Now Micah will also call out to us to look at trains he had spotted.

Micah loves trains. His favourite is, of course, Thomas and Friends but he will gravitate to all locomotives.

Once my mom needed to meet some old friends at the Sentral train station and of course we took the opportunity to drive her there and hang out there for a while just to watch the trains go by. We staked out at Starbucks simple because it is not as crowded there and you can really get a good view of the trains arriving and leaving the station. By the time I got us our hot chocolate, Micah had counted four trains already.

Well, I must thank Thomas and friends for this: they taught Micah to count and recognise numbers. Micah was really not interested in numbers at one time but we were really amazed that he very quickly learnt his numbers and remembers which train is what number: 1 Thomas, 2 Edward, 3 Henry, 4 Gordon, 5 James, 6 Percy, 7 Toby, 8 duck, 9 Donald, 10 Douglas, 11 Oliver. Well, Thanks to Thomas and Friends too, all cars are nicknamed Caroline, all cranes are Cranky, all helicopters are Harold and planes are either Tigermoth or Jeremy. The list goes on actually. These days, doing math is easier when everything is either a truck or an engine.

On our home turf, Micah is Thomas, Max is sometimes Percy and sometimes Mighty Max, Daddy is Rocky (a big and strong Crane on wheels), mummy is Harvey (always there to rescue Thomas when he is stuck), grandma is Emily and grandpa is Toby (an old tram, also because grandpa's name is Tony). Micah and mummy also get to take turn to be Thomas and Annie/Clarabel, one coupled up to the other by the pull of the back of the shirt. But these days he just wants to be the express and run real fast around the house going "chug-chug, chug-chug."

For now, Micah's ambition is to be either a train driver or a train engineer.