Juan Or’s love affair with the choo-choo train started when his Papa downloaded Thomas and Friends’ Misty Island Rescue from the Internet. What seems like a ‘boring’ typical British cartoon turns out to be something that Juan Or watched over and over and over again. And that was when he was about 2 years 4 months old.
Then, as time goes by, his choo-choo train things were added one by one, starting with his very first Thomas and Friends starter set. Today he is an 'ardent' collector of all things choo-choo train. Here is a flashback of his past choo-choo train journey.
Past (before Juan Or reached 2 years old)
Actually, Mommy bought this starter set when Mommy was still pregnant with him. However, the set was brought out only very briefly for him to see (then 1 year 4 months old) and quickly put back into the box to prevent damage and rough handling by this little boy. Only when he started showing interest in Misty Island Rescue did Mommy take it out for him to play again.
His next choo-choo train ( or rather pseudo-choo-choo train) experience was the ride on the tram at Bukit Melawati in Kuala Selangor . He was indeed very excited because the tram looked like the choo-choo train in The Choo-choo Express of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Present (from 2 years old to the present)
For his 2nd birthday, Mommy bought him a choo-choo train jelly cake. Surprisingly, he wasn’t too enthusiastic about the cake although it has the choo-choo train shape.
Along the way as Juan Or grows up, Papa and Mommy took him to sit on all possible choo-choo train kiddy rides.
Papa and Mommy also took Juan Or to see the Malayan Railway exhibit at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre during last year’s Hari Raya celebration. The theme was “Balik Kampung” (Back to Hometown).
Juan Or also managed to ride on the M&M’s choo-choo train at Sunway Pyramid.
When Juan Or was 2 years 4 months old, Papa and Mommy took him on his first ever Light Rail Transit (LRT) ride from Bukit Jalil station to Bandaraya.
Nowadays choo-choo trains are so ‘modern’ looking, however, Mommy didn’t forget about the more old-fashioned ones – the steam locomotive – which is an exhibit at the National Museum, Kuala Lumpur.
Then, along the way, when the Litt Tak Toy Warehouse Sale came by, Mommy took the opportunity to buy Thomas and Friends train sets at a cheaper price for Juan Or, and much better (and more age-appropriate) than Hornby train sets for younger children. Some choo-choo train accessories were bought as well from Jusco during the sale seasons.
Sometimes, Mommy also took Juan Or to Toys R’Us to see choo-choo trains. Can see but cannot buy ah! ^_^
But if there are free shopping vouchers from some redemption programme, then Juan Or gets to have the choo-choo train (with Mommy paying the difference, of course!)
And this is how Juan Or likes to play with his choo-choo trains – in a very dramatic manner – fall down, crash, boom, bang!!! He actually wants to imitate a scene in Misty Island Rescue where Diesel caused the jovi logs on the flatbed to tumble into the river.
Not just that, he needs to have his choo-choo train toys paraded at the laptop as he watches Misty Island Rescue. So is he watching the show or ‘watching’ the toys (since the toys have covered quite a substantial part of the screen)?
Along the way, Papa and Mommy took Juan Or f or m or e choo-choo train rides on the LRT.
Mommy even sourced f or choo-choo train books to nurture his interest….
……ranging from fiction ones……
…..to borrowing a non-fiction choo-choo train book from Mommy’s workplace’s library…..
…..to buying adult reference choo-choo train books from MPH Bookstore…..
….and junior reference choo-choo train books from other bookstores!
Even choo-choo train DVDs,…..
……choo-choo train magazines,……
….and choo-choo train pencilbox are not excluded!
By his 3rd birthday, his Third Aunty (from My Little Sprouts!) gave him a choo-choo train pop-out book.
And he couldn’t stop inspecting the trains, tunnels and what-nots of the pop-out book.
Future
This is what Mommy has in mind to continue to nurture Juan Or’s interest in choo-choo trains:
- Guide him in building a choo-choo train city on his own by combining all the complete sets plus accessories bought thus far. To do that, he will definitely need space to lay the tracks to form a ‘city’. So the third empty room upstairs will be all his for the envisioned choo-choo train city since he is the only child and there will be no other sibling to take the room.
(P/S: However, what you see here now is a choo-choo train city built by Mommy!)
2. Hop on the new Electric Train Service (ETS) which was launched in early 2011. This will be our future joyride family outing. We will either be heading north to Ipoh or heading south to Seremban from Kuala Lumpur .
3. Get hold of Meccano toys that come with the choo-choo train designs. Mommy has just discovered this brand of toys where it’s very DIY in nature, so it’s good for developing the child’s motor skill, thinking skill, independence of thought and all other good things to exercise the brain! The child gets to twist and turn the bolts, nuts, screws and what-nots to construct something just like how Papa does it with his hardware tools!
Meccano’s toys offer something for every child’s stage of development, like the Train Tool Box for ages 2 and above…..
…..to the Meccano train that comes with flexible parts for children ages 5 and above. The parts can be taken apart again to build 5 other non-train models, so you get to have both variety and versatility all in one package! Isn’t that value for money?
Hopefully, Meccano toys will come to the shores of Malaysia soon. So far, Mommy has not seen any Meccano toys in Malaysia’s Toys R’Us stores yet. ^_^
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