AJ has adopted my friend M. as a surrogate family member. M. is a master of silly faces and of an excellent game where he stands in front of AJ while he swings on the playground swing, only running away at the last possible minute. This reduces AJ to spasmodic giggling. But best of all, M. is an avid connoisseur of trains, both the full-sized and miniature varieties. AJ is thrilled to have found an adult who shares his abiding love for that particular mode of transportation. M.�s interest in trains began when he and his brother, while living in England with their family for a few years, discovered the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. Since then, Thomas has been franchised out, via Shining Time Station on PBS (hosted, at various times, by the unlikely Ringo Starr and the mindboggling George Carlin) and also through a set of wooden train sets that seem to have sprouted like aggressive weeds from the carpeted floors of the children�s book sections in every Barnes and Noble bookstore.

As a result of the commodification of Thomas, small boys (and some girls too, although mostly boys) across America can name Thomas and his friends by color and number. (�No, Mommy,� AJ scolded when I pulled out a small green engine and mistakenly called it Henry, and corrected me with a tone of voice generally reserved for the very young and the insane. �That�s Percy. Percy�s number 6.�). M. has been single-handedly supplying AJ with small die-cast models of Thomas and his friends in alarming numbers. They now fill a fairly large box under his bed, although they are rarely actually located in said box. AJ prefers to strew them across the floor where they can send an unsuspecting parent with an armload of laundry flying.

AJ�s fleet has just increased by five, although the new five are still being treated to a first class orientation. They�ve been dining with AJ, the head engineer. Two of them also accompanied him to his berth last night and I awoke to find an engine called �Sir Handel� driving up my arm.

AJ�s transportation interests are focused on trains, but not limited to them. He shouts excitedly every time he sees a motorcycle. He wants to ride in everyone else�s cars. And just this afternoon, as we were walking into the library, he informed me that he wanted a tollbooth.

Harriet: A tollbooth?

AJ: Yessss (he has recently developed a Golum-like tail to the word �yes,� which seems to be intended to convey stress). I want to put it on my birthday list.

Harriet: A toy tollbooth? For your cars?

AJ: No. A real one. You put money in and the gate opens and it says, �Thank you.�

Harriet: Why do you want a tollbooth?

AJ: I just do.

Harriet: Well, I think a tollbooth is a little big to bring home.

AJ: I don�t think so. We could keep it in the house.

Harriet: I don�t think it would fit in the house. It might fit in the yard, though.

AJ: That�s a great idea!

Harriet: And then you could collect money from anyone who walks through the yard. (thinking she's finally hit on a way to keep errant neighborhood kids from trampling her flowers)

AJ: (with a pensive look on his face). No�I don�t think so. It�s just for playing, Mommy.

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