It's James!! Toot! Toot!

Yes James came home this week. 10 weeks, 4 days and, well, I didn't count the hours, later he arrived at our door in a little nondescript manila envelope while Harrison napped. I was overwhelmed with excitement, this was it, I wouldn't have to hear the question "Mommy, Where, James?" ever again! I must have been delusional that day...

So when Harrison woke up I rushed upstairs, scooped him from his restful wonderland and whisked his downstairs telling him how he got a package in the mail. Before he knew it, the GID, big brother and I were hovering over him as I thrust the envelope in his face (some of us were more excited for ourselves- I think) he opened the package and pulled out a tissue-wrapped James and whispered in a still-sleepy voice, "YEAH!" For the last week he has carried it around with him, sleeping with it, eating with it and even taking it in the car for a ride - when we weren't looking. And yes, asking, "Where James?" A question that has now taken us to new heights in tearing through the house looking for the little red friend.


"Mommy, where, James?"

Gosh, hmm, I don't know Harry, did you check outside on the porch where you left it for mommy to trip on and almost break a leg doing laundry?

I didn't think so.


Harrison.

What Mommy.

I love you.

I nummu, mommy.

Move Over Percy!

.
And little red James-stand-in train



James is on his way home!!

Yes, it's has been 10 weeks to the day since we found out about the recall and today we got an email announcing that a new and improved James was on his way home!

In the words of Curious George - Hurrah!!

"You Have Caused Confusion and Delay."

I was watching the evening news while working on the computer and near the end of the broadcast was a teaser for the next segment - a child's toy recall. In the past, I may or may not have paid attention after the commercial break; after all I didn't have children or toys. But that night I paid close attention to find that it was wooden Thomas the Tank Engine toys. "NO WAY!" I yelled as I panicked. Suddenly I had to scoop the trains all up and send them away; what would we do?. I envisioned Harrison coming down the next morning to find NO trains to play with at his train table – this was not a happy outcome. As I assessed the situation, I contemplated leaving them there... I couldn't do that. So I did the logical thing, I went to the RC2 website & looked at the list of recalls. Much to my relief, out of all the items (mostly red in color) James and his tender was the only one we had. On the other hand, GID reminded me that it happens to be Harry's favorite train.
It's true; Harrison had carried that red train around the house since receiving it for Christmas. Just weeks before, he was looking for it and saying, “upstairs, upstairs” I told his we had brought it downstairs, or so I thought. Once again while my back was turned, off he went upstairs to a closet in the storage room to retrieve it. When did it get back up there? (Goes to show prove that I need to listen to my little talker!)

So do I (a.) tell Harrison that it has to go bye-bye or (2.) make it disappear in the middle of the night and bank on the fact that he may not notice for a - day or two? We opted for number 2; he usually plays at the train table in the afternoon and about every other day intently...
The next morning as James sat on the table, neatly packed up in an envelope to be mailed, Harrison comes down, inspects his train table and asks, "Where's James?"
NOOO!!!
WHY? Does he have ESP? Redirect! Redirect! I was able to distract him, if only for a couple days.

Well since then, we have found a temporary fix in a red train that came with the tracks, he calls it James, and we recently received a gift train from the Thomas recall in appreciation for our patience and loyalty. Harrison opened it up and slowly whispered, “Deeee-sol,” much to our surprise. I didn’t expect Harrison to know it's name. Either that or he’s just brilliant and hiding the fact that he can read already. No.