Trains Trucks and Jack

Having my nephew Jack stay with us for a few days while his parents took a "single married couple" vacation (see Amy Giauque's blog on Feb 7) was exciting, as well as eye-opening. Jack is a wonderful, easy-going BOY. Having been raised in a house full of girls (one of three sisters), and currently having a house full of girls (three sisters- so far), I have not had much experience with boys.

Since Buffy had warned me ahead of time that Jack is very much into Trains, I had Zoë and Megan help me set up the train set downstairs on their table in our living room. The first thing Jack did when he got inside the house was run over to the table and say, "Choo-choo train!". He had no interest whatsoever in eating dinner (he had to be bribed and threatened with bed before he'd eat anything). He then spent the remainder of his evening with the trains and the one truck we have in the house. To see a slide show click here.

Our Train theme was further enhanced when we took a trip to our Main South Bend Library and enjoyed the almost life-size train that creates little cubicles in the children's section of the library. Jack found a book with trains in it (The Little Engine That Could) and we read it two or three times before the kids crawled on the train tracks. It took a carrot of finding a movie with Thomas the Train to get Jack away from the children's section, and all I head from the minute he had the DVD in his hands until I put him down for a nap was:

For as much as I found it quite adorable, I can only imagine that his mom gets a little tired of hearing the same phrase! (And, while writing this blog and checking out the video, every time I play it Megan repeats my real response to Jack's petition, "After your nap!")


Jack was very cooperative with holding hands. I believe that is credit to his mother's education and less his interest in hand-holding. Any time we were walking outside to the van (from the house or from the library, Jack made sure he had a cousin on each side. He even chased after Zoë to make sure she didn't get away!

As promised, after the toddlers got a nap we did "watch Thomas." I think Jack sat still for about the time it took me to take this and 2 other pictures, and he jumped up to go play with trains. So much for watching Thomas!

I guess part of it is developmental as I remember Megan a few months ago wouldn't sit still for an entire episode of Clifford (about 12 minutes long), but her attention span has increased.

Still, I had to wonder how much of Jack's desire to keep moving was due to being a boy.


On our way to take Zoë to school on Tuesday morning, Jack remembered where we were going and said, "Zoë school!" I guess it made some sort of impression on him when he and his mom were here in November. That afternoon, while driving home to get some lunch, Jack and Megan started holding hands. Megan asked, and Jack acquiesced- for a moment at least. You can see that he quickly tired of hand-holding, but had fun turning it into a game. I guess holding hands only works for when we are walking!



Trains and Trucks are not something that are unfamiliar to me. I do have the train set, and the one truck. And yet I recognized a truth that when Mother's say their son is "All Boy" I can now understand ab it of what that means. Just being with Jack, getting to know his personality and interests, I saw a definite difference in activity level, motivation, and ideas between boys and girls. I have loved having him us, and I hope someday we'll be able to have a son of our own. If not, well, I love my girls. I understand them, know how to play with them, and I have a pretty good idea of what I'm headed into with their teen years- I think.


Addendum: To see pictures of Jack's visit (lunch at a restaurant and the kids reading books), click here.