Hadrien's Two Favorite Things...For Now

One of the greatest things that happens as babies turn into toddlers into preschoolers is that their personalities really start to come out. They show their likes and dislikes as well as that particular child's Most Favorite things...for this phase at the very least.

My one-year-old Liam is just coming into his toddler phase and so he's just beginning to show what he likes and dislikes (usually accompanied by a tantrum of one type or another) and so for now I get to talk about my three-year-old Hadrien's Most Favorite things...he has two of them at this juncture.

The first one that came about was his fascination with trains...Thomas the Train became an everyday show in our house and still continues today. Andrew my husband, has a great love and appreciation for toys. He still has some of the toys from his childhood which are in very good if not perfect condition. And so because of his love of toys and the fact that his first born sons love of trains he began a collection of the little die-cast Thomas the Train playsets. Hadrien has quite a few trains along with two of the take n play track sets. Hadrien pulls them out, sets them up and can play with them for hours. Not only does he love Thomas and all of the Sodor engines but he also loves trains in real life. Each time we pass a train track he calls out, "Momma, where's train?" And the times he actually sees the trains I think it's all he can do to not pee his pants. I love this about him. It gives me something to learn more about so I can answer all his train questions and when we found his dentist it was partially because of a family members recommendation but the part that sealed the deal for us (besides the fact that she is amazing with the kids) was that the office has a train that travels above your head every few minutes and there is a cast of a train coming out the wall which is painted to look like a tunnel...Hadrien LOVES it there! These are just a few of the perks that go along with his love of trains.

The second thing he became fascinated with happened at a Convocation for Deacons that we attended as part of Andrew's formation with the diaconate. We were able to bring our boys and they spent most of the day playing with other kids in the nursery. We did pull them out to go to Mass with us and then to spend lunch together and this is where it happened. He heard for the first time Church Bells...it was love at first ring. They were the type that go off every fifteen minutes gaining momentum until the hour at which they played a beautiful little song. Hadrien loves church bells now. Each time he sees a big clock or bell tower he hollers, "BELLS!!!" Sometimes the bells are present and sometimes not, but he doesn't care...he knows its a bell tower or big clock and that it should have bells. Luckily we have a small decorative clock that we are holding onto for a family member and every fifteen minutes it chimes...I have it set to low so they don't drive us all batty...and when Hadrien hears it he is just as excited as the first time he heard those blessed bells.