Oh, I hate when they take apart the train set.
My son has the same rug in his room. Funny.

I like your track layout! I remember doing many of these for my children with train sets etc and after a few attempts at "set it out like yesterday mum" I drew a diagram to help me remember. Then it was plain sailing and qiuck assembly. When I packed away the train set for loft storage(my children are grown up now .. well at least in age!)I made sure the diagram was there for posterity!

I find myself tracing all of the possible routes with my eyes. Looks like fun.

What's the fastest route to the nearest yarn shop :-)?

I have 2 boys who LOVED Thomas trains. Sometimes the track took up the whole room! Tip - buy the cheap, I mean inexpensive, wooden tracks but go ahead with the character trains and coaches. BTW I am unreasonably excited about Sockapalooza!

My boyfriend can't wait to have kids so he can play with toys again. Little does he know that what you experienced is also required.

I *love* our train set - I find myself playing with it even after Cate has wandered off to another toy. And we just got Lincoln Logs!! I forgot how much fun those are.

The trains have taken over our rather small living room. When they're a bit older (4 ish) they'll actually play for a long time with what you build.

I second the buy the cheap track sentiment--works great and save $$.

My kids played with their Brio all the time. Now my sister has it for her kids with STRICT instructions to give it back for my grandchilden.
No interested in knitting socks, but your previous post was very cute. Such a good organizer you are :)

haha, knitting during the day with a toddler (let alone two), funny idea. It looks like we need more train track because that looks REALLY fun.

"Santa" brought my daughters some wooden trains for Christmas. I think that they were really for DH and me, though...

I build layouts with my 4yo while the 1yo climbs all over them (sort of like Godzilla). Yep, no knitting time here either!

(We got lots of cheap track at trainsgalore.com ).

Impressive! And, yes, rather like the Big Dig, now that you mention it...

oh the days of Brio...it seems like just yesterday that my nephew was playing with them! Nice job on the overpass flourish :)

A familiar scene at our house, as well. My hubbie has to remind himself sometimes that this is *their* toy, so it's ok if they take apart the track. (painful, I tell you, painful!) And I full-well know what you mean about the toilet-training twins! We just jumped that hurdle with our girls...

Ah, brings back fond memories -- were they fond? -- of the many hours I spent helping my boys build -- or should I say engieer -- Brio train tracks. Somehow, the setups were often distroyed by some type of natural disaster or Godzilla. Enjoy the moments, they grow up so fast!!!

Love the trains! We got my son started on them last fall and all the relatives helped at Christmas. Now when he has them all out they take up most of his floor space and after working all day to set up his elaborate Thomas and Matchbox world he won't take it down at night. I just went in to check on him and it was like dancing in a minefield just to get to his bed to cover him up. But I love it, and anything that will get a 4 year old boy to play quietly in his room for hours gets my vote of approval, with bonus points for the fact that it's not electronic.

Marshall's is a great place to get inexpensive track--Brio closeouts. TJMaxx too. Have you all gone to the Edaville Railroad? We had yearly passes when we lived in MA. It was just a quick drive down 3! We miss it. The holiday train is so much fun and they have Thomas come in summer now too.

That brings back memories. My son used to cover the engines with his hand, show me only the face,and ask me to identify the character. At 12 he still plays with the sets occaisionally.

If I didn't know it before I got my daughter, I know it now....daytime, when babies are awake is their time not your time. You are a wonderful mom, Miss Alison, wonderful indeed.

And, a darn good knitter too!

I have visions of someone charting this into some sort of cabled celtic "thomas" knot for a sweater....

My oldest is 5 and still into the Thomas trains (he's playing them right now, as a matter of fact, before kindergarten). Have you ever tried "Wacky Track"? It's a plastic flexible track that can be shaped into all kinds of twists and turns. Coolest thing, really. A couple of good bridges, a tunnel here and there, the character trains and wacky track -- heaven to a little boy. Hopefully my 1 year old twins will have the same bug.

hey, welcome to the "Thomas/Brio Years!"

PS--speaking of trains, have you seen the videos "I Love Toy Trains"? They made about 20 billion videos of model trains and kids seem to be mesmerized by them. They mesmerize parents too!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0937522341/ref%3Dpd%5Fsl%5Faw%5Falx-jeb-6-1%5Fdvd%5F2144701%5F1/104-4586868-2915151

Tip: If you find yourself reconstructing the same train set up over and over, buy an inexpensive piece of plywood and glue the pieces onto it (it can be stored in the closet). My son has the Thomas train table and we ended up gluing the pieces to the board. As he got older, you can turn the board over and use it as a lego table top if you have the Thomas frame (IKEA now makes a great, inexpensive train table that I wish was available about 7 years ago! Congrats on the potty training (I'm envious).

Leslie, a mother still changing Pullups

LOL. How old are your boys. Mine will turn 2, in 11 more days. I'd like to start toilette training him but I don't think he is read yet. I also read a tip once that it's better to do these during the summer because of the weather. The kids can run around naked.

Ohh, I feel your anguish! It's a tragedy to see all that hard work destroyed in an instant. Surely, that is the best part but still! Wait until they graduate to Legos, at least they don't come apart so easily!

We always said we'd glue/nail/screw down the train track onto a piece of finished plywood for our son and never did. Now, he's starting to outgrow it. Besides, the construction/destruction is all the fun!