A certain stage

There are various developmental stages that you are supposed to look out for in young children. Smiling, sitting, crawling and walking are skills that parents get very excited about.

But I have to admit that I was pretty chuffed to discover that Nathaniel had acheived one of the most important stages - the running-Brio-under-sofas stage.



As far as I can see, this is a pretty important interest to have developed. It means he's got beyond just putting together the track, and moved on to considering the asthetics of the train's journey and of the elegance of the overall design.


This means we must be near the point where we can buy points, turn-tables, tunnels and other fancy bits of Brio, which I have been looking foward to! I have been waiting patiently so as not to overwhelm Nathaniel with complexity, but I have been window shopping on a regular basis!


One of the first bits that we need to get hold of is a bridge with supports (Bridge set). Nathaniel saw one at a friend's house and has been demanding that we build a "railway" (don't know why he calls it that), ever since. We have bodged one using the church, but it's not quite the right height and requires both sides of the arch to elevate the track. Nathaniel likes to drive his trains around the track and then park them on the "railway" and instruct everyone to look at and admire them!