Choo Choo Train

Like most little boys, Enzo loves trains.  There is a train at the mall that Enzo has loved from a distance for a while now.  When I say "from a distance," I mean that he gets to go to the mall and stand by the train and watch other kids whose parents will spend the $3 a piece to ride on it around the mall. For a long time, that has been plenty for Enzo.  Whenever we drive by the mall, he will ask to go see the choo-choo train.  Sometimes we even make a special trip to the mall, just to watch it.  But lately, he's gotten smart and has realized that he wants to ride on the train too.  We usually tell him that we don't have the money to ride on the train, and he's satisfied.  However, one time Daddy told him something like this, "Enzo, you don't have your money here.  Your piggy bank is at home with all of your money in it." So the little smarty pants  replied, "Go home, get Enzo's piggy bank.  Get money, ride choo-choo train." And we've been forced to come up with excuses like, "The mall is closed, it won't be open by the time we go back and get Enzo's money." (Of course, he will reply something like, "Guy get keys, open mall, ride choo-choo train.")

Last Saturday we again drove by the mall, and it took a lot of convincing Enzo that we couldn't go home and get his money to ride the choo-choo train.  (If any of you are wondering why we don't just pay for him to ride the train, you must not know my child very well.  One time of Mommy and Daddy paying for it and he will think he can ride it whenever he wants. At least if he pays for it himself, we can use the "you don't have your money with you" excuse.  Plus, I think it's a good way to teach him about the value of money.  And to be honest, I usually look at those things, along with those dumb little ride-on toys and toy/candy vending machines at grocery stores and tell myself, "Heck no, there's no way I'm going to waste money on that." And I usually just tell Enzo, "Only grandmas and grandpas can buy those." )

So after last Saturday, we decided we'd take Enzo to ride the choo-choo train for family night on Monday.  We played it up and gave him plenty of opportunities to "earn" a little bit more money to ride the train.  And when he didn't want to eat dinner Monday night, he found out that he couldn't ride the train unless he ate all of his dinner - and dinner got eaten for the first time in a while. But it was all worth it to see how excited he was for something as simple as riding on a train around the mall.  Here's Enzo on the way to the mall telling all about it:

Enzo got to pick who he wanted to ride with him (no, we didn't make him pay for our tickets as well.)  Of course, Daddy was chosen.  I was more than happy to sit it out in a more comfortable spot.  I took a few pictures, but since they are with my camera phone, most of them aren't very good, but I'm sure you get the idea.

 

 As soon as Enzo was done, he wanted to ride it again with Mommy.  So now we are working on earning more money so he can go back and ride again with me.  Unfortunately, the novelty has worn off and, as much as he wants to ride it again, he isn't motivated to do anything to earn the money (like go to bed without a fight or use the potty). However, it was definitely worth the $3 for Dad's ticket to see how excited he was to ride this choo-choo train.