Goodbye Choo Choo

So, like I admitted when I was in the late days of pregnancy, I have been letting Ben watch more TV than I approve of but sometimes it really is a life saver.  He is currently interested in trains (or, as he says, choo choos.)  Unfortunately, PBS doesn't currently show the standard show about "choo choos" for little kids, Thomas and Friends, every day. 

 

This program and the accompanying toys have been around for along time.  My brother liked it when he was a child and had the VHS tapes and many toys and a floor mat with train tracks to set it all up.  He will be turning 27 in January so that means it has been around for at least twenty years.  It used to be narrated by Ringo Star and was called "Thomas the Tank Engine" and they lived at "Shining Time Station".  The modern version is computer animated and the trains aren't British but a lot of the terminology still seems British to me.  For example, they call getting to do a fun job or privilege a "special" and they say things like "an idea flew into Thomas's funnel".  Huh?  The trains still have the same names though, and that windbag buzzkill Sir Topham Hatt is still the main train conductor.   Ben first was exposed to it because we got out my brother's toys for him at the farm one weekend.  He had been showing interest in the book "The Little Engine that Could" so I thought he would like them.  I was right.  

 

 

Here is a current computer animated still from the show. 

 

 

And here is Sir Topham Hatt.  He is always lecturing the engines about being "very useful and helpful" blah blah blah...

Like I said, PBS doesn't show the show every day or even on a regular basis.  If it does show up it is on a weekend.  I caught an episode a few weeks ago and recorded it and it hasn't been on since.  That episode, about the "girl" engine Emily telling a lie so she can be decorated in lights as the "party engine" for a Christmas party, has been my best friend.  Ben loves it and would watch it nonstop all day.  He brings the remote to me and says "Choo choo!" and then he is distracted. 

Well, this morning the remote was acting up.  I think the batteries had been jolted out of place from it falling on the floor.  I meant to hit "don't delete" and I accidentally deleted it!  UHHHHHHGGGGG!  Crap.  Help me.  Bob the Builder is also on the recording list but it isn't as beloved as Thomas.  I looked at the guide and it is on again on Sunday.  That is in four days!  PBS please add it back into your daily scheduled programming!  PLEASE!!  I think we need Netflix. 

Tessa has been doing good for a newborn.  It is hard to believe she is almost a month old.  I have started dressing her in her 3 month outfits even though they have room to grow. 

 

Here she is in one of her cute outfits. 

 

 

Here she is in another one.  She wouldn't stop crying so I didn't get any good pictures.  Another day...

 

She has gradually been sleeping more at night.  Over the weekend at my sisters she slept for an almost six hour stretch from midnight until 5:40 a.m. and then went back to sleep after eating until 8:00 a.m.  I would almost say she slept through the night!  I felt so invigorated that morning.  Since Ben was in the pack and play we planned on having Tessa sleep in either her bouncy chair or some sort of makeshift bed.  We ended up having her sleep in a laundry basket with a towel for a mattress.  And she had her best night of sleep ever in it!  What the H?  She had a few more standard nights of waking every three hours and last night she once again slept from midnight until 5:30 and then went back to sleep until after 8:00 a.m.  This time it was in the bassinette and not in a laundry basket.