It's the little things

Sam loves trains and he loves playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine train. However, his good friend Thomas can sometimes cause him major frustration (screaming and throwing Thomas and Percy and other train cars across the room, and ripping the tracks apart). This frustration used to sometimes be caused by the trains not sticking together. It took awhile to learn to turn on of the engines around for the magnets to attract each other. For his 2nd birthday Sam received two Thomas gifts. One was a book with magnetic pages and magnetic trains. We thought this would be a great book especially during church. (We figured magnets would not poke anyone's eye out if he threw them four pews ahead). However, one of the pages of the book has two tunnels pictured. Sam was so frustrated that he could not push his magnet Thomas through the tunnel. He whined and cried and threw poor Thomas on the ground and then tried again with the same result. He wouldn't let us put the book away, but just continued to try to get Thomas through that tunnel. The other Thomas frustration of late is his other birthday present - a Thomas shed (pictured above). Sam loves opening and closing doors, so I was sure this was the perfect Thomas accessory for him. For 2 weeks Sam enthusiastically enjoyed opening and closing the door and scooting Thomas out with the lever. The problem arose two days ago when Sam got out another engine and train car. The shed only will fit 2 engines. If you try to cram 3 or 4 in there- it just doesn't work. The poor guy will cry and will plead for help. It is just so sad. "Momma, help pleeeasse, shut shut." This frustration has turned in to several wild temper tantrums in recent days. I kept hiding the extra engines, but he would always find another one. I hoped that he would figure it out and just accept the facts. Last night I hid all the engines except two small ones and now...Thomas and Sam are friends again.