Oh, Those Troublesome Trucks

Those Troublesome Trucks give us all lots of trouble. They turn on their breaks so Salty cannot go forward. They laugh at Diesel instead of working. They never do what Toby asks. And, they make noise while I am trying to coax Jackson back to sleep at 6 a.m. For those of you familar with Thomas the Train, you know the stories. We read them frequently to Jackson, and then he acts them out with his Thomas the Train trains and on his train table. They are a great tool for imagination, to inspire an interest in books, to create occasions for Jack and I to build and play together, and the Troublesome Trucks actually are good for sorting. Not so good, though, when they are clanking and bumping into each other just when Jackson who awakened at 6 a.m. with a death grip on them, is trying to drift back off the dreamland. Or at 10 p.m. when he has managed to hold on to them and his wakeful state whispering quietly to himself, "Those Troublesome Trucks have their brakes on!". Or, when they break their connection and Jackson screams, "What happened what happened mommy. Fix the Troublesome Trucks!" Today, I actually thought of Toby and Diesel, and felt like comiserating with them. So, I've decided that I am lodging an official complaint with Alec Baldwin and Sir Topam Hat about their disobedient charges, Those Troublesome Trucks!