Happy Valentine's Day!

Evan received a Valentine's package in the mail from his Grandma Cindy. It was the Thomas Barrel Loader! It adds so much character to his train set. Evan received the package right before nap time and he was so excited that he just couldn't settle down to take a nap. And his dad was so excited that Rob had me go to IKEA to buy some more train track. Evan's train set that he received at Christmas is a wooden Thomas set, but we discovered that the IKEA Lillabo wooden train tracks are compatible with the Thomas tracks and much cheaper! They aren't as high of quality as the Thomas tracks, but work just as well and when you are living on a student's budget, they are fabulous!! When I got back from IKEA with the goods, Rob and Evan had a blast setting up a huge railway system. It takes up Evan's entire floor in his room.These past few days Evan has been waking up early in the morning, about 6:30am, to play trains. Hopefully the hype will die-down and he will decide to sleep in a bit more like he use to. Ever since he received his train set for Christmas, Evan has been in train heaven. Each week Evan has a new favorite train. Though he usually pairs them up and holds one in each hand: Mavis & Toby, Thomas & James, Percy & Working Hard Percy, Thomas & Percy, etc. He doesn't have Gordon or Henry but talks about them all the time. It is fun to watch him talk about the trains as if they are his best friends. Evan plays out the stories that he has either read in a book or seen in a movie. It is so fun to see his imagination develop. Just this week he started talking to himself a lot while he is playing. It is so cute, I just wish I understood everything he said!

Side note: A few weeks ago Evan finally started saying his name! For the longest time we could get Evan to say just about anything, but his own name. So now if you ask him his name he will say, "Enan". It is so cute! Evan pronounces the "v" as a "n". But hey, at least he is saying his name!! Happy Valentine's Day!!