girlfiend

After the baby was born the Fiendling was really into Toby, a brown tram engine from Thomas the Tank Engine’s Island of Sodor who was almost retired because he was old and out of date. Toby’s coach, a toy we didn’t have, is named Henrietta.  The Fiendling started seeing Henrietta everywhere. Random trains at home were referred to as Henrietta and trains on TV were called Henrietta. One day at the mall the Fiendling saw a kiosk from a distance. He yelled, “It’s Henrietta!” (He didn’t even seem disappointed to learn she was just peddling cell phone accessories- Bling Bling for your Ring Ring.)

Just a week or so after his birth, a friend gave us a gift card for the baby along with a toy train for the Fiendling. The train was a Thomas train, a fancy one that had a little Percy slide show built in. Even though the gifted toy train looked nothing like Toby’s coach and the movie featured Percy, the Fiendling promptly named the train Henrietta.

He loved Henrietta. He couldn’t quite figure out how to make the slide show feature work, but he loved the train and played with her nonstop. One day his cousin was over and they brought a few trains outside. Boyfiend’s boat trailer, sans boat, was parked in our driveway at the time and the two boys were running the trains along the rails of the trailer. The boys were both a little rammy, and I don’t know who did it, but one of them threw Henrietta to the ground. Her top fell off, revealing the film reel inside her.

I tried to see if the top would snap back on, but it wouldn’t and the little train car was rendered unsafe with the top broken. Too many small parts inside. I felt awful about it since he loved her so much, but I had to retire Henrietta, storing her out of sight until a time when Boyfiend could attempt to fix her.

He asked for her for a week or two after her injury, but then the memories seemed to fade. It’s been a good two months and I had forgotten about her completely. Tonight, while playing with his trains, the Fiendling turned to me and said, “Remember Henrietta mommy? Remember playing outside she was broken? She was broken on the boat. She fell down and was broken. Remember mommy? Remember Henrietta?”

I said, “Yes, I remember Henrietta. You were playing with her on Daddy’s boat trailer and she fell off and was broken. That’s why we don’t bring trains outside any more, ” making it a little lesson, but inside I felt teary, overly emotional thinking about my little boy, my not quite two-and-a-half-year-old who broke a toy he loved and still, months later, remembers her.

He went back to his trains; pushing them forwards and backwards, lining them up, and crashing them off of the intentionally broken bridge. The train table looks like an earthquake has struck. The trains are everywhere. One is currently dangling from a bridge by its wheels and the breakdown train, off the track and on its side, is in no condition to help. Adjacent to James, who is still on the track with his tender upside down behind him, is Toby, whose coach Henrietta is off to the garage for repairs.