Why I hate Thomas today

Around the time that Tyler was 2 years old, he started getting interested in Thomas the Train. I think it was more because WE thought he should be interested in it because it was cute, neat and innocent. Don't get me wrong, many of the Thomas toys/clothes we have are cute. We have a neat Thomas chair that Connor loves to sit in, and a cute train that pulls itself across the floor.

I made the mistake of taping a couple Thomas shows from PBS a few years ago. Tyler wanted to watch them EVERY DAY. And if you've ever heard the song from Thomas - it burns itself into your brain! Seriously, it's a cute song, but PLEASE. It's almost like a hypnotic chant. I beg you, please listen to this song and see if you listened to it 15 times in what day, what would happen to your brain...




Then we started the train sets. For Christmas when Tyler was 2 1/2, he received a train table, and a cute train set. Unfortunately, the sets are so darn complicated, that he would just eventually end up getting frustrated with it and quit playing with it all together

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Bringing us back to current day...

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Kyle and I cleaned out our mini storage this past weekend, and there was a Giant Thomas Set in there that Tyler received for Christmas probably 2 years ago. I didn't even attempt to open it at that time, because it was so huge. I decided to save it until he was a bit older.

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That was yesterday. And all I have to say is, Oh My God.

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The set itself had a mere 146 pieces. Seriously. That isn't an exaggeration. The box says "146 pieces in all!". What it also forgets to tell you is that you need to be a mechanical engineer to get it all together, and the directions are one page. I'm not an idiot, but I couldn't even figure out where to start.

I eventually gave up, and made the boys two tracks - one for the bus and one for the train. Notice all of the leftover pieces scattered everywhere!

Then the fighting started. They couldn't leave each other alone, and kept kicking each other's stuff all over, and the tracks kept breaking. I ended up screaming at the top of my lungs for EVERYONE TO STOP YELLING and "TYLER QUIT WHINING!".

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After about an hour, I bribed them with candy in order to get the set picked up, and I put it away in the sun room.

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I hope they don't remember it tonight, because I don't think there is enough alcohol in the world right now...