A Wonderful Time in Bright

We've had the most amazing holiday with friends, family, nature and good food. Blogging fell off the priority list because we were having so much fun!

These photos capture a tiny bit of what happened in the great month there.

Picking ripe tomatoes from the garden and scoffing them down

Catching baby trout in the river in Wandiligong

Hanging out with the cats

Playing with the diggers and pebbles in the garden, also running after the cats.

Pulling friend in dingy back to shore.

Played for hours at the awesome Bright playground

Jumping and rolling on the trampoline with friends

Playing in the beautiful, clean, flowing pebble river

JJ caught his first fish at the trout farm! He used a lure and caught it on the second cast. He reeled it in all by himself! It was a very proud moment for him, and for us. We got it all on video check it out!

Rhyming Bingo Game

Yesterday at the toyshop in Beechworth, I found a bingo game for kids that was based on rhyming words. I thought I'd try making my own version and playing it with JJ.

Setup

I made two bingo cards with four words on them:
1) Boat, House, Star, Moon
2) Spoon, Run, Red, Far

Then I made some cards with words that rhymed with the words on the cards:
goat, mouse, car, balloon, bun, and bed.

Teaching how to play
I asked JJ if he wanted to play a new bingo game called Rhyming Bingo, and he said yes.

Sitting at the table, I explained to him what rhyming words were. I used a piece of paper like a blackboard, and wrote examples for him to see while explaining.

Playing the game
Then JJ got to choose a bingo card, I took the other. I put the word cards into a little pencil case. Then he picked a card from pencil case - he giggled when he got to choose a card!

Once he got a card, I said "OOhh! What card did you get?" He read it out loud "goat". I asked him which word on his card rhymed with goat, and he had a good look and said "boat". Success!!

He put the word card above the word on his card that matched. Then it was my turn.

We kept playing until JJ had all the words covered, at which he got to say "Bingo!" and he was very pleased.

I think I'll play this game again but modify it to have more words so it lasts longer - say nine words on the card. At least he has the concept now!

This Bingo game could also work really well for foreign languages in matching English words with the foreign translation.

Beechworth

We're itching to explore some more towns in the local area, and today we've decided to go to Beechworth, an hour's drive from Bright.

None of us have had breakfast, so by the time we get into Beechworth I'm ready to eat the table.

When I'm about to take the kids out of the car, I realise that the boys are sitting in their seats without any shoes on - we've left their shoes at home!!! Can you believe it?!

Luckily their river shoes are still in the car, still slightly damp from yesterday, but better than nothing.

We find a fairly kid friendly cafe/deli called Beechworth Pantry. The boys demolish French Toast with bacon and maple syrup, and when they've finished JJ says he wants dessert. The food by the way was really delicious.

The boys adding sugar and stirring my mug of latte

We take a stroll around the lovely Beechworth shops. The boys take a fancy to some corrugated metal animals meant for the garden and the window display of the lolly shop. We come across a splendid toy shop which has a Thomas the Tank Engine trainset table, and they are glued!

Eventually when it's time to go, SamSam has a melt down when we leave - this is despite giving them our usual five-minute-warning. Finally by the time we get to the car he has calmed down. He just loved that train set to bits!

We stop by at Myrtleford and pick up some fish n chips and excellent burgers for a picnic lunch by the river.

Our picnic turns into a whole afternoon affair when we find a wonderful spot by the river. It's another hot day, so it's perfect to be in the water. There are millions and millions of pebbles, and we build another little rock pool in the river.

Among other things the boys pretend that the pool is a cafe, and go inside to sit down and pretend to eat chips!

After the whole afternoon by the river, we return home exhausted, and the boys have fallen asleep in the car.

When they wake up, they are a ball of energy and running around like they've been set free. They invent a new game which I call 'Extreme Swiss Ball Rolling'. The game entails running behind the exercise ball and pushing it as fast and as accurately as you can in order to squash and flatten your opponent. JJ gets squashed quite a few times by SamSam.

After dinner, showers, reading, devotions and milk, I try and get them to bed, but they are pretty playful this evening. Each time I go in to check on them, they are rolling on each other, or remaking their beds, and no doubt telling each other jokes because there is so much laughter going on in there.

Eventually I move them out of our room and into another bedroom together. Somehow the new surroundings seems to work - or at least they are finally sleepy because it's now 9:30pm and I put them down at 7:30pm. They should be so exhausted! I am!

Floatin' on the Doughnut

We're up and at 'em at 7:15am today.

I opened the laundry to let the cats out and found two mounds of cat vomit, and a big fur ball in the middle of one - yuck! How do you get a cat to get rid of its fur balls??


Today I am taking SamSam out on a special excursion - just him and me down to the village shops - and Daddy will be spending some time with JJ. I've noticed over the last few weeks that SamSam is playing up a bit more than normal. He is going through the two year old stage where tantrums are pretty common, but I think he's needing more one on one time to know that he's loved.

We go to the op shop to find the rest of the My Book series that we bought yesterday, but someone has beaten me to it, and has snaffled ALL the remaining alphabets that I wanted. They were too quick! Siggh. However, SamSam has a fantastic find - a little Emily train - and we take it with us for 50cents.

We go to the Rock Bookshop and Cafe for some coffee and orange cake (yumm). SamSam pushes Emily around the salt and pepper shakers, and discovers that he doesn't like the taste of the salt. I have to admit I've been distracted all morning by shopping for the missing books, and now by the awesome books at this fabulous little bookshop, and then I remember that I am meant to be spending quality time with SamSam! Yikes!!

I look at him and I realise how beautiful he is! I tell him and he's still playing with his train. He repeats after me - "I am bee-u-tee-full" in his little SamSam voice.

I ask him, "Who loves you?"
"JJ".
"Who else loves you?"
"Daddy:
"Who else loves you?"
"Mummy"
"and Jesus loves you too!"
:)

We head back to the van, and pick up Daddy and JJ along the way who are coming back from a walk. While we've been out, Daddy has been reading with JJ, jumping on the trampoline with him and finished with the walk.

SamSam falls asleep on the way home so he has a little rest in bed when we get back.

In the meantime JJ and I play Uno, and then he does some dot-to-dot drawing. When SamSam emerges from the room, we play Thomas snakes and ladders that they got for Christmas. They are getting fidgety so I suggest we do some dancing, and they happily agree.

I bought them a Colin Buchanan CD for Christmas. I've been looking around for some good Christian music for kids and when this was recommended to me by a good friend I quickly went out and got it. The one I bought is "10, 9, 8, God is Great" and it is really, really good. I'm talkin' 10 out of 10! (And I'm really picky when it comes to music).

The songs are really catchy with great rhythms to move to. The fantastic lyrics hang around in your head and I'm walking around the house still singing verses from Lamentations, like it's the coolest rock pop tune ever. I like how he uses Bible verses within the songs, it's really great stuff!

Colin Buchanan who wrote the songs and sings them, was apparently a presenter on Play School once upon a time. His concerts are sold out where ever he goes! I want to go too!

We dance around the living room, boogeying and a groovin' and it's a great time. Kids are so cute when they dance!

Lunch is leftover seafood paella that Daddy made last night.

During their nap time I take the opportunity to duck back to the bookshop and have a good scout around. When I come back they are still fast asleep. But not for long, as the mercury must be around 40C and it's time to cool down at the river.

Daddy builds another dam, so that we have a cascading-two-waterfall effect with three separate pools to swim in! Bliss! I've brought along an inflatable doughnut ring, and the boys and I have fun floating down the river - me with my bum wedged through the hole and legs hanging off one end, JJ sitting on one edge, and SamSam sitting on my tummy.

We manage to float around without capsizing - amazing and so enjoyable! JJ squeals with delight as we move along with the current and SamSam grins from ear to ear. What can be better than sitting on Mummy's tummy and floating down a river on an oversized doughnut?

What a lovely afternoon :)

Boats, Shoes, Books and a Cake

Every morning since we've been in Bright, SamSam is the first to wake up and get out of bed. He is so excited to go into the living room to play with a huge duplo train set we've found in our friend's cupboard!

I've never seen Duplo train tracks before, but this one absolutely rockksss. It's way better than the IKEA tracks or the Thomas tracks. The tracks can be stuck on Lego, which means that you can make the tracks go up onto different heights. Awesome! All the Duplo cars can fit on them, yess!

After eggs and toast, we're off to the shops to find some toy boats to sail down at our favourite river spot. While we're there I take the boys into the camping store, and we pick up some good 'river shoes' that are grippy and they can wear in the water. The river has lots of slippery pebbles and sometimes sharp rocks, so I feel much better knowing that their feet are protected.

Hurrah, we find some $2 boats at the discount shop! The boys cradle their boats as they walk around, and we check out a couple of Op shops before we head to the stream.

The temperature is oven hot by the time we get down to the water. However the water is almost icy cold, and my feet are almost aching to walk in it! But it doesn't worry the boys, they are having oodles of fun sailing their boats down the current of the river.

We have to block up the holes in our man-made waterfall as the boats sometimes escape between cracks and we watch Daddy madly chase them down the stream.

The boys have fun putting pebbles on the boat, then sticks, then sail them into the 'harbour'. They also play with our plastic drinking cups and bottles filling them with leaves, pebbles and water. This is such great explorative play for them. After a few hours it's time to take the boys back for their afternoon nap, and I feel sad to leave!

After their nap we have a cake for Daddy as it's his birthday today :) We sing Happy Birthday and the boys help to blow out the candles. They want extra serves of the chocolate cake, but we hold firm!

I give the boys some books that I bought at the Op shop this morning. They turn out to be really good ones (only 50 cents!). SamSam's is 'My S Book', and JJ's is called 'My K Book' - both by Jane Belk Moncure.

SamSam sits on the rug to look at his, while JJ sits next to me at the table and I get him to read it out loud. He learns some new words - Kaleidoscope, Koala (I can't believe I have somehow not taught him what a koala is!), Keg and Kid (as in a young goat).

These books are at the perfect reading level for JJ, and I want to go back and get the rest of the alphabet! They have such gorgeous illustrations too!

Afterwards they play outside blowing bubbles, and with a bucket of water and some cups. It's so hot that JJ is soon sitting in the bucket of water! They eventually take off all their clothes and are having a great time splashing water and playing with the garden stones and some old toy trucks and cars.

Before I know it, it's dinner time, then bath, and then books before bed. We read 'My K Book' once again, and then a section about water in 'Richard Scarry's Best Bumper Book Ever' - such a great book.

Today's devotion is about practice. The boys learn that they need to practice if they want to learn to do things, and that God can help them when they try.

Happy New Year!

The first day for 2012 was jam packed. Still on holiday in Bright, we went to the local church in the morning, then went to a trout farm in a nearby town.

The boys loved feeding the fish with the fish pellets! There were some whoppers in the ponds and we got splashed quite a few times. It was great entertainment for a two and three year old, and it only cost $2 for the fish food that lasted an hour!

There were older kids were busy trying to catch the fish with long fishing poles, and they were so excited when they actually got one.

So I highly recommend taking kids to a trout farm when on holiday!

We had lunch at the local pub - the boys first pub experience - where JJ couldn't resist getting on stage and pretending to sing. We had fish and chips and steak and chips. The steak was delicious!

Later in the day we went to our newly discovered swimming spot in a pretty flowing stream. We've started rearranging the stones and pebbles to create our own toddler pool in the flowing river, plus a larger adult sized dipping spot. So much fun!!!

Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to hit 37, and 39C the day after. This shady swim spot will come in handy!

Today's devotion was called Happy Faces. The boys learned that God can make you happy on the inside and out!

'A happy heart makes a face look cheerful'  Proverbs 15:13

Merry Christmas!

We've spent an incredible two weeks in Bright with family and friends over Christmas.

The boys have had so much fun playing with their uncles, aunt and grandparents - it's been like having constant childminders during our holidays - fantastic!

Burying an uncle under the pillows

Leading up to December 25th,  JJ kept asking if it was Christmas Day so he could open his presents that were accumulating under the tree. I was amazed that neither of them opened the presents!

We were so fortunate that our friends also joined us for Christmas. We had a great BBQ with them on Christmas Eve and took the kids swimming in the fantastic toddler pool in town. They had such a great time! JJ, the adventurous one, also went swimming into the river. Daddy had to go fish him out before he ended up downstream in the next town!

Later that night we sang Christmas carols, and put up even more lights around the living room. The place looked really special. JJ and SamSam and their friend Marcus gave a little musical performance for everyone, which was really lovely. We all sang Christmas carols, and ate way too much food.

On Christmas Day itself they helped to distribute the presents, which I think is a good thing to do so they don't think it's all about them! They got lots of books, some tshirts, a game, a DVD and a CD, and their most favourite - two wooden trains from the Thomas the Tank Engine series, and they love them so much.

Since Christmas we've gone on lots of walks, been to the playground, had picnics, swum in the river, window shopped, and explored a nearby town.

The two boys have definitely grown taller in the last few weeks from all the exercise and sunshine and good food!

First Weekend in Bright

Our first weekend in Bright has been relaxing and enjoyable.

The house is set in a large and diverse garden with lots to discover. They've picked strawberries and helped water the plants. They've played with the cats on the grass and climbed up chopped up logs. They've jumped on the trampolines and JJ's learnt some jumping tricks from Daddy. They've thrown stones along the gravelly driveway and found miniature pinecones that JJ says look like echidnas!

On our first day, SamSam came face to face with a kangaroo - bigger than him - that had wandered into the property! I didn't even know there were kangaroos in Bright!

The boys spend a lot of time in the playroom. There is an extra long skateboard which JJ has been rolling on, and trucks and boys stuff. It's so exciting for kids when there are new toys to play with!

The weather has been really variable, but thankfully not very hot this summer. After dinner one night we had a lovely walk down the road. The boys had a great time collecting things as they walked. Bright this time of year is so GREEN. The roads are lined with trees with beautiful thick foliage. We've arrived just before all the tourists hit the town, so it's nice to get around while there's still peace and quiet!

On Sunday we went to a Church of Christ which we spotted while driving around town. It was a great service, and the people were very friendly and welcoming.

I was thrilled when the Sunday School teacher asked if the boys would go to Sunday School!! It was nice to have a little break from them :) It was quite funny that they participated in a singing performance even though they'd only been there less than an hour! But they took to the limelight. SamSam very embarrassingly pulled up his tshirt, exposing his belly, and put his hands down his pants! They were very cute though, and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! They even got presents!

SamSam with his hands down his pants

The Sunday School teacher said that they were both so well behaved, and that she had never seen boys as young as them be so good! Ahh, it warmed the cockles of my heart!

Our friends will be away for 4 weeks, and we will be housesitting for them here. They have two cats to look after Coco and Milly, and the garden to tend. We love that we have an opportunity to stay in their lovely home and pretty town!

Road Trip

Yesterday was a big day of cleaning, tidying and packing the van. The boys watched DVDs all morning and into the afternoon!! But it was the only way to ensure we could get everything done.

We've got some friends who will be staying at our house while we are away, so we have to do a good job making it look good!

The trip took four hours in our van which was packed fit to bursting! I was disappointed that there wasn't room for the boys' bikes :(

The boys are seasoned travellers whether by car, train or plane, and so we don't have much trouble when we are on the road. In the van, which is a small campervan, there is a small shelf of books which the boys help themselves to during the trip. I have no idea how they don't get carsick when they look at books in the moving van, because both me and their Dad get really carsick if reading in a moving vehicle!

They hadn't had their nap by the time we left, so it was really good timing that they slept for about half the trip up.

We got some drivethu Maccas on the way through, and two quick toilet stops, but other than that drove straight through. The Maccas was good in that the boys were occupied for a long time eating their fillet of fish - half each! It's handy that they're packaged in cardboard boxes so that the boys can balance the box on their laps and eat.

Before we got to our destination, Bright, a beautiful alpine village on the way to the NSW border, it started to rain in the distance. Suddenly JJ spoted a rainbow in the sky! It was the most incredible rainbow we have ever seen! We could see both ends of it, and it lasted for a good 10 minutes! The colours were so vivid, and it was so BIG! I saw it as God saying that he would bless the time we spend with our friends and our family.

My parents and siblings are driving down to meet us in a few days, and we also have many friends who will be meeting up with us while we're here. So it will certainly be a great time of friendship and laughter :)

The boys were a bit hyperactive when we arrived after being cooped up for so long. It was 8pm when we finally got in! They ran up and down our friend's house and made lots of noise. After a yummy BBQ, and many servings of fresh berries and yoghurt, the boys finally went to bed close on 10:30pm!!!

The boys get to sleep in our room for these holidays - a whole month! They each have a mattress on the floor next to our bed. We were here only a few months ago, and so it's not totally unfamiliar to them. However, they are very good with adjusting to sleeping in new places. I think it's because we have travelled so much since they were small.

Some Tips On Getting Children to Sleep in New Surroundings When on Holidays!
To get children to settle into new surroundings it's a good idea to spend time in the room they will be sleeping in during the first day so that they get familiar with it. It's not just what the room looks like, children are very sensitive - even the smell of the room, and feel of the room they need to get used to. If you play some games or read a book with them, they'll feel much more settled when they have to sleep there later.

Bring their pillow slips from home, and blankets that they're used to, a soft toy etc. this will help them feel more at home with their new surroundings and settle faster.

Let them watch or help you prepare their beds and tell them specifically who is sleeping where. It's also nice to point out where you are going to sleep, and reassure them that it's very close!

If you turn on special music for them to sleep to, take all efforts to bring it with you and play it! We have a beautiful lullabies CD that we've played for the boys since they've been tiny babies. Playing the music is incorporated into their sleep routine. It's called 'Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies & Peaceful Worship' by Twila Paris, it is soooo awesome! The lyrics are just amaaazing, and the music is restful. I also believe that the words will sink into their spirits while they sleep. We've put a copy on our mobile phone and play it through some compact travel speakers.

The boys were asleep without any problems (except for rolling on each other because I put their mattresses too close together - I had to intervene and put more space between them). By the time the third song on the CD started, they were both fast asleep.

Making Christmas Presents & Bikes in the Park

It's a beautiful day today. The sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the clear blue sky.

Crumpets with butter and jam is a great way to start the day too :)

Daddy decided last night that instead of leaving today for our holiday, we'll leave tomorrow! Phew, more time to pack!

SamSam wants to do some painting, so I find a colouring sheet with some Chuggington characters. For the first time ever, JJ is strategic with his colouring - Coco is painted all green, and Wilson all red.

I hang the clothes while the boys blow bubbles. They've just discovered that they can catch the bubbles on their bubble 'sticks', and also how much fun it is to blow the bubbles right at each other's head!

I bought SamSam a new bike helmet that fits much better, and he looks rather fetching in it!

We have exhausted our supply of bubble mix, so we walk down to the shops to get some more. We visit both our $2 shops and come away with a whole swag of goodies for our upcoming holidays.

Aside from more bubble mixture, I found some decorate-it-yourself money boxes that we can use for Christmas presents for the boys' aunty and uncles!! We spend the next hour colouring the money boxes and wrapping them up, and then decorating the wrapping!

The boys are having such a great time colouring in. They love to help wrap up the presents using scissors and sticky tape - although you need double the normal amount of patience to do this! This morning I also bought some glue pens from the $2 shop, and they work  really well to stick on some felt initials onto the presents.

The boys love the concept of letters, and are really happy to walk around holding these brightly coloured initials of their aunt and uncles' names!

 

I bought some sheets of felt a while ago. They are quite versatile for use in craft, you can decorate paper, make finger puppets, cut out animal shapes, letters etc and they have such a great texture.

Lunch is steamed rice noodles with hoisin sauce, mmmm! I love our rice cooker, it not only cooks rice, it steams, makes congee and can slow cook.

After lunch, the boys get to watch a whole Thomas DVD while I frantically make Christmas presents before our holiday departure tomorrow.

It's way too much TV, and they have become a bit dopey. They're not hearing what I say when I ask them to do things, and are looking mischievious. Finally I finish, and decide that it's time to take them out to burn some energy.

We grab JJ's bike, SamSam's trike and my Razor scooter and make our way down to the car. Just getting all our gear, plus helmets down to the car is quite stressful. We live in an apartment, and we have to get into a small lift, followed by narrow hallways. There are lots of doors to open and shut making it very hard to maneouver - let alone trying to communicate with a two and three year old how best to move along!!

I'm almost ready to have a fit by the time we get to the car, but I catch myself and remember that this should be an enjoyable time taking my beautiful boys to the park to ride on their bikes! With renewed energy and patience, I drive off.

We have an absolutely fantastic time at the park. The boys enjoy the extra space to ride, and the different paths to explore. We have a small picnic on the grass, and they are very happy. There is a doggie party happening in the rotunda in the middle of the park. Very cute.

With my Razor scooter I realise I can push SamSam along on his trike! It's brilliant!

Take a look at the great pictures!

JJ is stunt bike riding already

A lovely park to ride in

When we get back home, Daddy has cooked delicious smoked salmon spaghetti, and the boys have seconds. Dessert is banana fritters with ice cream! yummm.

For today's devotion we re-read the one we had yesterday - about obeying your parents!!! All day the boys have been pushing the boundaries. SamSam has been throwing things on the floor from the dinner table, JJ has been purposely rebelling against my repeated warnings!

We read a selection of their favourite books, and then it's time for bed.

Daddy leads our nighttime prayers, and I am thankful that I can take a breather, and that tomorrow is a whole new day.

How to Teach Kids to Read

We leave for 4 weeks holiday tomorrow, and I haven't even started packing!! (and I'm writing on this entry, ha!).

We've read a few books this morning: 'Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy', 'Winnie the Pooh' mini board book, 'Hippo Goes Swimming', and 'The Tiny Baby'. We also did our devotions.

Today's devotion is about doing things you're told not to. There's a drawing of a little girl who's dipping strawberries into chocolate for a present, but she looks like she's considering eating it herself!

There's a little prayer we pray together "Help me Lord, when it's hard to obey. Help me to do what my parents say."

I hang the washing and the boys ride their bikes. We come inside and they play their trainset, and then watch some DVDs.

It's one of those things that when we have to get things done and can't have too much distraction, we turn on the TV - or more accurately DVDs.

We prefer the boys watching DVDs as we have already vetted the content. We also have educational DVDs within our collection. It's been shown that children benefit from repetition, and watching educational DVDs over and over definitely work. Both our boys can actually read! Our 3 year old can read around 700+ words - although now he can sound out new words phonetically - and SamSam perhaps about a hundred. If you're wondering how to teach kids to read - they've learned this just from watching a couple of DVDs.

How To Teach Kids to Read

The DVDs we used to teach them are called "Your Baby Can Read". You start them from about four months of age (yes four!), although we only started JJ at 6 months because I didn't read the instructions properly (how ironic).

You just show the same DVD - about 20 minutes long - a few times a day, every day, in a situation without distraction. We didn't show JJ any other TV except for the DVDs. When the intro music would come on he would get really excited!!

We knew that he could read when at 12 months he put his arms up in the air when the words 'Arms up' appeared on the screen. Within a week or two, he could read words like mouth, fingers, toes - we knew because he'd point to them when the words appeared on the screen.

So JJ could read before he could talk! It's incredible, and it was so easy8 (painless!) to do. I couldn't recommend it highly enough :)  I'll find a video of JJ reading when he was little and put it on here, soon. Keep posted!

While I'm packing away and completing four loads of washing, the boys are watching DVDs, but after lunch, it's straight to bed for a nap. When they wake up, they decide to pull out all their books from the bookshelf in their room, and empty all the stuffed toys onto the floor. Look at the mess!

But in doing this, they discovered books they hadn't read in a long time, and they are content for a quite a while to read amongst the rubble on the floor.

Thank goodness DH has decided that we should leave the day after tomorrow, there's so much to do!

A trip to the city

We have a busy day with friends visiting in the morning with their two little boys.

JJ and Charlie decide that they want to sit on the potties, and sit side by side in the hallway doing their business!

We head off into the city for a delicious Korean all-you-can-eat buffet meal with the boys' Aunty. It's Christmas time and the Myer window display is up. It's not totally my cup of tea, but the boys are very interested in the moving characters! I'm a bit upset that the nativity scene is very dreary and grey and drab :(

Samsung has a very cool interactive window where you are displayed up on the wall and little santa hats drop down onto your head. We have fun with that and another window with a touchscreen Angry Birds game.

JJ gets yet another train-ride treat home with me. We go via the fantastic new Myer toy department where he exclaims loudly "CHUGGINGTON!", and then very contentedly plays with the Thomas train sets.

When we have to leave I give him a time warning, "In five minutes we have to go!". He seems to have heard and I let him play on. I give him another time-warning "In one minute we have to go! We have to go sit on a real train!".

I can see a Dad watching me, and I think he's interested to see if JJ will actually leave the toys without creating a scene!

"Ok JJ, time's up, it's time to go".

He's about to put the train down, and I see a little girl who has been waiting very patiently for a train to play with.

"Why don't you give it to the little girl over there who has been waiting to play with the train?"

Miracle of miracles, he goes over to the girl and gives her the train with a "Here you are!" and takes my hand and we walk off.

No tantrums leaving a train set in a big toy department! I feel so proud!!

We take the train home and it's the end of another day :)