Tag Archives: kids

Sammy’s Thomas the Tank Engine Story

Sammy, ,

Thomas chuffed along.  Suddenly he noticed he was on the wrong track to fill up the oil car.  So Thomas backed up and chuffed onto the right track.  And then, he arrived at the oil thing.  He lined up the car.  The machine put the oil in.

Suddenly, Thomas noticed that the crank was stuck on the oil pump.  So Thomas wheeshed away to tell all the engines.

Thomas saw Duncan.  “Hello,” Thomas said.  “Did you know that the oil machine was broken?”

“Yes,” said Duncan, and he chuffed away.

Then, Thomas reached over to get his next load.  He coupled onto a very special coach.  Along the way, he met Sir Thomas Hatt.

“Hi Thomas.  I see you’re pushing the special coach today.”

And then, Thomas kept chuffing on.  He chugged away.

He passed Duncan again, who was still at the signal.

Then Thomas kept chuffing along.  Duncan backed up, and Thomas backed up.  He switched tracks and hooked up to his old cars.  And then he chuffed away.

Thomas chuffed right past the signal.  By the time Thomas chuffed past, Duncan had to stop again because the signal had gone back down.

Thomas was tired.  He was pushing a lot of loads today.  He really wanted another train to help him.  And suddenly he saw who wanted to help him:  It was Duncan.  So when the signal went up, Duncan chuffed away to help Thomas.

Then, after Thomas coupled onto the big load, he pulled and pulled into the siding and Duncan got out of Thomas’ way.  Thomas chuffed into the siding.  Duncan chuffed into the front, coupled onto the front car, and the two engines chuffed away.

We Got Egg Roll Tickets!

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First, I’ll say that I’m thrilled we were able to secure tickets to this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll. But it was pure, dumb luck. It was clicking the right link at just the right time, after I’d even given up on getting them. I always thought it was a long shot, but we lucked out.

But of course, the problems were highly publicized, as noted in this Washington Post article.  In fact, my experiences were even quoted in the article.  One of my twittering buddies works for the Washington Post and asked me to email my thoughts on the process.  Here is the whole email:

Continue reading We Got Egg Roll Tickets! →

Sammy vs. Santa

Tracy, Uncategorized, , , ,

I’ll spare the gory details of the entire weekend, only that we’re in the midst of holiday cheer.

However, I will relate the story of Sammy vs. Santa Claus. For weeks I’ve been telling Sammy that we need to go see Santa Claus so that he can tell him what he wants for Christmas. We even wrote a letter Sammy could give him detailing his preferences. And finally the day came, Sunday, when we were off to Lakeforest Mall with, I believe, one of the best Santa layouts in Suburban Maryland.

Sammy was reasonably good in the long line, as was Sasha who didn’t get fussy until we were approaching. A little nosh (yes, while standing in line) seemed to appease her. As for Sammy, I let him play with my iPhone for a little while, which backfired when it was our turn and I had to yank it out of his hand when he refused to give it back to me.

Sasha, who has been plagued with both separation anxiety and stranger anxiety lately, was a perfect angel. She gave Santa her biggest toothless smile and did everything she was supposed to do. Then there was Sammy.

I tried placing Sammy on Santa’s lap. His response was to start crying and then hop off. I gave Sammy the letter he had written, which he then threw at Santa and tried to run off.  Finally, after coaxing from the photographer and from me, he stood sort of next to Santa clutching a tiny basketball squeaky toy, and then finally sat on my knee as I kneeled down next to Santa.

At one point, he gave the photographer one of his “I’m in pain!” smiles. I tried to tell her that that was his smile and that she should get the shot off quickly, but I don’t think she quite believed me.

We managed to get off a few passable pictures which we got in prints and on a USB key (a cool l feature that I think is a smart way to go), we were done, much to Sammy’s relief.

Sasha doesnt look that happy, but Sammy cooperated for this picture.
Sasha doesn't look that happy, but Sammy cooperated for this picture.

Ugh

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There are some days, when leaving my son at day care, I get the Mommy Guilt.  That, instead of working a job pushing pixels on some website, I should be raising my son and spending his formative years being his mommy.  There are some mornings when I regret taking a full time job, leaving the care and early education of my child to strangers, that I should be there for him.

And then there are mornings like this morning, when I walk up to the door of Sammy’s day care and announce to the kind teacher who opens the door, “Take my child now.”