Today we had our ups and downs. The trains ended up in timeout, but we had a good time playing with them until the little fellow got tired and hungry and melted down.
Grandpa brought us breakfast this morning and then returned to install some hooks for us to store our water hose outside. The hooks had been were installed but weren’t being used at his house and had rusted over the years. Grandpa got rid of the rust and painted the hooks black and now they look great.
Grandpa had to serve a timeout today, too. When he brought us breakfast he discovered that Baybay’s Bo biscuit was missing from the bag. He got angry and said the word stupid, which is first and only word Baybay has been warned not to use. Grandpa’s use of the word didn’t escape Baybay’s notice. As soon as Sheriff Baybay heard Grandpa utter the word, he exclaimed, “Ooooo, he say dat werd!” Poor Grandpa had to serve his first timeout in sixty-four years.
Today was Baybay’s first day with his new HO-scale, Digital Command Control-equipped Diesel and Spencer engines. Diesel and Spencer are both Thomas & Friends characters. We bought these engines a few weeks ago and waited for our local train store to receive and install DCC decoders into them. With DCC the little fellow can have multiple engines running around the same track and maintain independent control over each. Separate remote controls (called throttles) are available that will let us operate trains together on the same track. One person can control one train and another person can control another. Train speeds, sounds, coupling, braking, lights, and track switches may be controlled using DCC.
Max was so excited. Actually, so was I. I’ve never set up a DCC-operated train set before and therefore have limited knowledge of it and was elated to see that everything worked right on the first try. Max was overwhelmed. He danced around his little four-feet-by-four-feet layout until he was breathless and talking a mile a minute. He put his little cheek down on his train table and studied Diesel and Spencer as they chuffed along the tracks.
He was having such a good time. I tried to get him to stop and eat some lunch but he wouldn’t. I finally persuaded him to get into his highchair, which I put beside his train table, and to have a few Cheez-Its and Cheetos. As soon as I went to the bathroom, though, he got out of his highchair all on his own and was running around his train table with his chin hovering less than an inch above the tracks.
He wanted me to swap Diesel’s freight cars with Spencer’s passenger coaches (or maybe it was the other way around), but he couldn’t figure out how to tell me what he wanted. He melted down with arms a-flailing, which lead to a timeout, which led to his hitting me, which lead to his trains’ being in timeout for the rest of the day.
We went upstairs and watched a Fireman Sam video so we could settle down for his nap. Boy, was I ever glad to put him into his bed so I could finally get some peace and quiet.
An hour later Baybay awoke with a number-two. I ran out of wipes while cleaning him up, and I left him on his changing table with firm instructions not to move while I fetched more wipes. What do you think he did?
Of course he moved and soiled his pajamas and changing table. I finished cleaning him up the best I could and then put him into the shower and washed him with Dial soap. He was in a great mood and seemed to accept that he couldn’t play with his trains and to understand why they were in timeout.
Finally, Mama got home and took over for me. She took him to Bogan Park and then they went to Mimi and Grandpa’s. Baybay’s spending the night with Mimi and Grandpa tonight, and, believe it or not, I already miss him.
He melted down last night at bedtime and scratched and hit me. After being warned, he continued his aggressive behavior and Mama and I sent him to his bed, which Mama rolled into his room. That would’ve been the first time he’s slept in his room in a couple of years, but I felt like I was punishing myself, too, so we got up and Mama picked him up from his bed and brought him back to our bed. Next time we send him to his room for the night, that’s where he’ll stay, but since it was his first time being sent to his room, we let him stay in there for only about fifteen to twenty minutes.
So Mama and I are off to bed to watch All in the Family and look forward to getting our Baybay back in the morning.
