the stinkiest, the trains and the legos

This weekend we were able to start enjoying one of the highlights of wintertime, the train show at the Domes! When I mentioned to Nolan Saturday morning that the train show was open there, he said to me, "Get dressed Mama!" I've never seen him so anxious to get out of the house. Once there, he was totally absorbed. I couldn't get him to take his eyes off the multiple trains going around the tracks. This picture is at the end of our trip, once he was fully satisfied! The funny thing was he remembered all the highlights, including the sugar cookies for sale in the shape of trains of course.

We then headed to a new sandwich shop for lunch. As I held Nolan going across the street and also for my own warmth on such a windy cold day, Nolan asked me meekly, "Do you have your phone?" When I said yes, he then asked if he could watch Dinosaur Train. This is the boy's new obsession since I bought the series of programs a week ago. It's a PBS show, and since we don't really have a TV out to speak of, he gets his media from my phone a lot of the time. I had stored a program on their for a dinner night out with friends at which I really wanted to enjoy adult conversation. The show has taught him great words, like omnivore, carnivore and hypothesis. Plus it features dinosaurs AND trains, not much else to explain there for it's popularity with Nolan.

After a great lunch, we then went off to spoil our appetites for the rest of the day by taking a whiff of the "corpse flower" at the Public Museum. It's only open for two days in the butterfly room, the only room Nolan does not like in the museum. The odd thing is that you would think many of the other places would be more terrifying, like the bug room with live creepy crawlies (some venomous), the darkened jungle area with animals sticking their heads out of the shadows or most especially the dinosaur hall with huge models including a T. rex snacking on the side of a Triceratops with loud roaring soundtrack in the background. Nope, the butterfly room is the scariest, as you can tell by Nolan's nervous expression as I hold him, large stinky flower in the background. (It wasn't that stinky...)

Nolan got Lego blocks for Christmas, and even though he has difficulties putting them together, he really enjoys what we all make as a family with them. I love how once a day or so, Nolan will say, "It's Lego time!" And get one of us to build something for him. He is gradually getting better at putting the pieces together himself. This particular night, John built him a tower that can fly. Nolan was appropriately impressed.