The Cheeky One: Toys From Our Past Get New Lives

This is a paid promotion by Fisher-Price, and all opinions are my own.

I am so excited about this blog post and it’s actually got a funny back story. When Jackson was about 18 months, I started looking for train sets. I honestly couldn’t tell you what or why I have such a love for these wooden trains, but I do! I think I always wanted a set when I was little but never got one. So when Jackson was finally getting old enough to play with toys, I scoured consignment stores and yearly sales for these. I ended up finding a huge bag full of the wooden tracks that so nostalgically puzzle-piece together, and pretty much every Thomas & Friends™ character train there was. I felt like I hit the jackpot. 

We’ve been playing with these for years now, and we of course, go through phases, just like any toy and any kid. These same little wooden toys will be brought out like no time has passed and no age has grown, and the kids will start playing with them!

There was even a period of about 6 months that Robert wanted to get rid of our train table. It’s big and clunky and takes up so much space in our playroom. I wouldn’t let him, I kept telling him the kids have not outgrown Thomas and they will be back! And sure enough, they were. It’s currently a running inside joke between Robert and I. I know Robert thinks these are more for me and my own agenda of nostalgia. But it actually has nothing to do with my childhood. These wooden trains and tracks are what we played with when I was home with both kids and figuring out how to be a mom to two. 

Elston was a newborn and Jackson was 2 and we watched Thomas & Friends™ every day. The show was good and clean, and the song was soothing. We learned every word together (with the help of the captions that come with the show… if you know, you know). The sounds of the wooden tracks banging from the playroom as I would make dinner symbolize our days together; I will never forget these sounds. The sight of the tracks thrown all over the floor after we would build a huge track that sprawled throughout the house. We would all sit on the floor of the playroom, me nursing Elston, and Jackson bringing Thomas & Friends™ to life in his own imagination. We have acquired so much track, and so many Thomas’ lol. The poor wooden trains have seen some bath nights and have had to be set out to air dry.

I love watching the kids build these train tracks. It’s such a good motor skill to watch them think about creating something and piecing it together. They learned how magnets worked from Thomas & Friends™! They physically saw how they fit together, and how to make the trains go up and down the tracks. On days that were full of errands, sometimes we would end our day at a bookstore because way back in the kids’ section, was a train table full of Thomas, and his friends, and a glued down track. 

All of these reasons are why I was so excited to see Thomas & Friends™ Wood Track & Engines be brought back in our home. The Wood line features trendier details! Each engine has the name sketched in the wood on the underside, and in our new kit, have a few new faces. Every engine looks exactly like the characters from the show! They are fully painted premium beech wood engines. The most reassuring thing, was that even though there is a slight new track design, they make sure to include adaptors to fit the old tracks so you can put them all together. The old building blocks for our wooden trains of the past (and maybe even includes us 80’s babies) have not been forgotten, and that made me smile. But to bring in a new generation, I understand a new design. I am just appreciative they didn’t forget about us. 

Now we can forge the old and the new, to build upon and continue to create new ideas, traditions, and memories… and I’m not just talking about the tracks. Thomas & Friends™and these sturdy little wooden engines will forever mean so much to our family. They are our kids’ rite of passage, they were my transition with 2 kids in motherhood, and they are one of our most lasting and sturdiest toys. I’m 100% sure that after this blog post, we will never be getting rid of them. They’re 2, they’re 4, they’re 6, and 8…