Happy Birthday to You!

Haley's Big Sis had a birthday.

I had been out of town so I hadn't done any shopping.

I know, LAME! 

Anyway...the night before her birthday she said "If you got me a YouCurl for my birthday could you just leave it on my bathroom counter in the morning so that I can use it before school."

Subtle.

Haley and I were about to head out to her Confirmation class so I just smiled at my daughter and left.  I thought that the YouCurl (that I hadn't bought) could be from Haley.  So after Haley and I went to her class and my choir practice at church we stopped at Target.

Haley likes Target.

She likes to shop at the $1 section at the front of the store.  She also likes the girl clothing section.  She was not happy with me when we quickly passed by them both.  I told her that we were there to get her sister a birthday present.  That got her going.  "Birthday.  Birthday.  Birthday," she said.  I explained to her that it was her sister's birthday and that we were getting her a gift that Haley could give her.  She just said "Shopping," in a very annoyed voice.

After we made our purchase we got back in the car and then she really had a fit.  Great big tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Haley, tomorrow is your sister's birthday.  You can give her this present tonight.  Do you want to go home and put a bow on it?"

She seemed to perk up a bit.

"Do you want to put a bow on it?

"Yeah."

"What color bow do you want to put on it?"

"Red."

"OK, when we get home we will put a red bow on the box and you can give it to sister, do you want to do that?

"Yeah."

So when we got home I got out the gift wrapping supplies and Haley picked out a nice red bow, she also noticed a tag in the box with her sister's name on it.  I thought that it was appropriate so I taped both onto the box.  I handed the box to Haley and told her to give it to her sister and say "Happy Birthday!"

I gently nudged her in to the living room where her sister was watching TV.  Haley just stood there.

"Haley, give sister the box and say 'Happy Birthday.'" I whispered into her ear.

Haley took two steps into the room and threw the box at her sister (who had been watching TV and not even paying attention to us) the box landed with a thud on her stomach and she jumped.

"Haley, say Happy Birthday."  I said.

Haley turned and walked out of the room.

How does the saying go...it is the thought that counts?  Hmmmm...

National Train Day 2011

Saturday was National Train Day for 2011. NTD is an event organized by Amtrak to get people out and see what they have to offer. In Portland Amtrak assembled a nice array of their Superliners and Talgos. Of course they had some wonderful historic equipment most importantly including Haley's favorite, the Daylight.

This year Haley's Mom was unable to attend because of another appointment. That meant Haley and I could have a daddy/daughter adventure! Instead of surprising her like we did last year I explained the plan to her first thing in the morning. I told her we'd ride Max to Portland Union Station and we would see her Daylight, BNSF, a caboose and some other railroad equipment. I think having her understand the complete plan worked well. She was right in step with me through every part of the day.

At the station Haley and I walked around and looked at everything. Last year Haley was very nervous around the Daylight. I think it was because they were constantly blowing the whistle and startling her. This year they chose to blow the whistle at the top and bottom of every hour. This was perfect! I could easily warn Haley and get her prepared. The result was this year she was much calmer around the Daylight. I imagine many of the other kids were happier too.

I think her favorite thing was a BNSF locomotive. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around it, touching, and listening to its noises. In fact I ended up capturing the image in this post at the rear steps. Haley really likes the photo too. She stood by me the whole time I was editing it talking about her day.

Today she's still basking in the fun she had. She still reviews all the things she picked up yesterday and has been watching the video she bought pretty much non-stop.

National Train Day is good!

The Trains Magazine

Haley's Dad here again. As a railfan I'm a subscriber to a couple of different railroad magazines. Haley really likes these because they are littered with pictures of trains. She opens each one and makes a first pass looking for the Daylight. If there is an image of the Daylight in the magazine, no matter how small or stylized, she will find it. She has a passion for that locomotive.

Her next pass is to identify other locomotives and which railroad they belong to. For the most part she can pick out locomotives from BNSF, UP, Amtrak, Sante Fe, BN, CN, and CP with little help. Some times prior paint schemes from these railroads confuse her a little. This is where Haley's Mom and I come in. We have to identify the railroad for her on any images where she doesn't recognize the paint job. This is OK, but after reviewing the same magazine with her dozens of times it gets kinda old.

Thursday the latest issue of Trains arrived in the mailbox. When I hopped into the car with it Haley had already noticed that I was carrying a new magazine. She asked to see it in her own gibberish. I handed it to her. That was a big mistake.

She has essentially claimed the new issue as hers. During the day it sits on our bar table so she can refer to it at any time. Every meal it sits between us and we have to flip pages while I identify railroads (and there are an abundance of unusual railroads this month!). At night it goes to her magazine cache in her room where it rests until she gets up. Needless to say I've had little opportunity to read it myself.

Why is this issue so compelling for her? The best I can figure is she loves the full page vertical image of SP4458, a sister Daylight locomotive to the SP 4449, pulling a freight train. Of course she doesn't know it is not the locomotive down in Portland, it's a Daylight locomotive and that is all that matters!

I'm very happy she has a passion for something. I want to read my magazine though.