His relentless campaign begins each morning as soon as we wake ("Mommy, can we go to the store today and buy Geotrax?"); and continues far after his bedtime ("Mommy said that maybe I'll get Geotrax for Christmas and I can't sleep!") At first, his earnestness was enduring. He has never wanted anything this badly before. But now, it is wearing on me.
The reasons he dreams up to go shopping are far too clever for a four-year old:
- "We should go to Target to get Jay new shoes and, while we're there, we could check if they have Geotrax."
- "I want to use all the pennies in my piggy bank for something new."
- "We don't have to wait for Christmas. We could get them now."
- "Jay wants them too. We should get them for him."
One benefit of this obseesion is that the boys are playing with our Thomas trains everyday (poor Thomas was getting quite dusty and lonely). The tracks are spread across our family room rug, and each new layout is bigger and more complicated than the last. I love the Thomas toys and their old-fashioned looks and ageless sensibilities. I'm not sure I want to replace them with a Fisher-Price, plastic, noisy, battery-eating train set.
After some reseach, however, I have to admit that there are advantages to Geotrax. For one thing, the Thomas tracks link together only one way, which inevitably leads to two open ends facing each other (my best solution so far has been to tape the pieces together--utterly unacceptable to a purist like Cole). Geotrax tracks, on the other hand, join together on either side, so no need for tape. They also seems to lock together tighter. The Thomas tracks break apart quite easily, which can be quite frustrating with a little brother who likes to sit on the tracks.
I even see advantages to the remote controls. Now that the layouts are becoming more elaborate, it's harder for Cole to reach the far tracks. We bought a train table last year for that reason, but he hardly uses it. Despite how much room the table takes up, it isn't big enough for the layouts he wants to create. With the remote control, he wouldn't knock over bridges or break the tracks trying to reach the other side.
***Update to the first draft (because he can't read yet)***
I convinced myself with the previous paragraphs and bought Geotrax Grand Central Station. Now that I have it in my possession, it's burning the proverbial hole in my closet. Can I hold out until Christmas? Waiting will be hard, especially since I know it would occupy him for hours and that means FREE TIME for me. However, I hear Super Nanny's voice in my head saying it would be a good lesson in patience and the futility of expecting instant gratification.
Perhaps we'll give it to him in New York so he can play with it the week we're there for Thanksgiving. Besides, I suspect Pop Pop will want to play with it too.
2 comments:
You will not be disappointed with GeoTrax! There is nothing better!! Ryder is totally into trains, so we have huge sets of both Thomas and GeoTrax and both Drew and I love GeoTrax so much more. The tracks stay together better, there seems to be more to do with the trains with all the cargo and drivers, Ryder had better luck building the tracks younger by himself, and they are more fun to play with. Drew and I play a lot of trains with the kids and we both think GeoTrax is far superior. I am constantly on the lookout for GeoTrax on sale because they get so much play and are so much fun around here that we're always looking for more! With as many as we have, they are a huge piece of Ryder's wishlist for Christmas :) (As a side note, you can buy "unusual" pieces for Thomas, including some connectors that are double knobs and some that are double notches. It's the only way to get the Thomas' to hook together in some spots. Those were a life-saver!)
Should we think about an Arizona set for Christmas?? Santa Grandma Yingy Claus.....
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