The Train I Almost Missed

Tiernan was heavily into Thomas for a while. He spent two-years under the spell of the "Really Useful Blue Engine." For his second Christmas, (making him just shy of two-years old at the time, for those of you scoring at home) I, er uh, Santa got him Fisher-Price's GeoTrax trains. Santa was hoping that the trains would act as a sort of methadone for his Thomas addiction and ween him off. Santa was wrong..
The GeoTrax, for those of you without children or boys, is collection of toys, trains, cars, boats, fire trucks, etc. that run on battery power over tracks, which are easily connected. It is an ingenious design. The Fisher-Price folks also sell buildings, bridges, factories, fire houses, everything a little mayor-in-training needs to create a city. To a Dad, that has taken his desire to play with trains and converted it to many many nights playing Sim City until 4 a.m., the GeoTrax stuff is just about the coolest thing ever to buy his future city planner/architect/mayor.

I was naive to the seedy underworld of toys, being a Dad of only eighteen-months I didn't want to believe that toys could have a downside. Toys were toys. Now I know better. Now, I am a veteran dad of many battles and two tours of duty I see that not everything is as it seems.

Geotrax are cool. However, like all railroads, they are not without their problems. Tiernan likes to run his trains much like Sir Topham Hatt or Benito Mussolini, "The people may complain about their civil liberties, but the train run on time" and some of the GeoTrax engines don't perform up to his his standards. Some are slower than others.

But the major drawback to GeoTrax is they are sort of bulky, they aren't big, but big enough for little hands to manipulate them; put them on the track, connect the tracks. The size it what makes them effective toys for toddlers. That size, is its biggest draw back. (Especially, when an over-excited father, er, Santa can't help himself and goes overboard and buys two trains, the track pack, the fire truck set, the helicopter set, the construction set, well you get the picture.) The GeoTrax tend to be all over the place. When it is up and running and everything is together, it can fill a room. Now, add a little sister into the equation. A little sister who, can't help but take tracks apart, because she's six- or ten-months old. Resulting in GeoTrax everywhere and repeated anguished cries of "Dad, Reagan keeps touch my trains!"

When they are strewn across the landscape, the Geotrax become GeoTraps, waiting for adults to misstep. Like living room land mines, bidding time to twist an ankle. These GeoTraps are designed to take out the unfortunate bastard carrying a laundry basket, causing clean laundry to fly around the room like cloth shrapnel, leaving him writhing in pain, cursing, and covered in panties and boxer shorts. Or worse yet, contributing to the national heartache that is a missing sock.

There is nothing sadder than a sock without a mate. When one goes missing, another feels the pain. It is the sock that stayed true which suffers the most. It is shunned by the other socks in the drawer, because it can't keep its mate. It just sits in the drawer, being pushed around because it is always in the way. It is just waiting, hoping that its mate will come back. But, deep down it knows it is just a day or two away from becoming a rag, or worse going to the landfill.

After many months of sister-interference related time outs and twisted ankles and missing sock, the it was decided that the GeoTrax would be banished to the bedroom. It was the perfect plan. They became bedroom toys. Tiernan would get up early and put together the tracks around his bed. Nobody would be tripping over them. Reagan would leave them alone. And once every two weeks or so, I'd order Tiernan to put them away. A brilliantly conceived plan, executed to perfection. The GeoTraps stayed in hi room for six months.

Until one day last week. One morning, Tiernan woke up and decided he wanted to take his GeoTrax downstairs and play with them all day. I was against this. It was contrary to my aforementioned brilliant, perfect plan. As Sir Topham Hatt would say, "It could cause confusion and delay." I told Tiernan that the GeoTraps would have to stay in his room.

Cue the meltdown. He totally spazed out. He was crying, screaming, kicking, pulling out all the stops, relentless in his tear filled pleas. I tried to stay strong. I tried to explain to him why the trains had to stay in his room. However, my reasoning left, even me, unconvinced. And I began to ask myself, "Why won't you let your son play with his toys?" My answer came back, "Because I might trip over them." And it sounded comical and selfish. I looked down at my son's sobbing face red, lower lip quivering, tears filling his eyes ready to follow the tracks of the their bother tears down his cheeks. It wasn't a power struggle. It wasn't life and death. He just wanted to play with his toys. The toys that I bought for my boy. That I was excited to get him. I felt like a selfish, childish, dictator. Not a father, certainly not a Dad. I hugged him tight and told him that I would bring his GeoTrax downstairs and we could set the up and play together.

And we did. We had a blast. He loved it. We had trains running all through the house. The gods smiled on us. Reagan was napping. She took a longer nap than usual, allowing a boy and his dad to play trains. It was one of the better days, Tiernan and I have had. And we've had some great days. But, my own pigheadedness almost caused me to miss that train. Thank God, I rechecked the schedule.