et tu waiter?

River's growing interest in things large and mechanical is fascinating to me. Without any particular encouragement he started pointing to large trucks (buses, semi's, and construction vehicles) a couple months ago. I quickly decided that my vocabulary of "big truck" was way too limited and have now learned all the names from back-hoe to front loader, cement truck to steam roller. With the help of books and scant few sightings he has moved onto an obsession with trains with much vigor. The same time he learned the sign for "train" he picked up a "where did it go?" shoulder shrug, which is as adorable as it is exhausting.

Where did the birdy go? I don't know. Where is the doggie? Over there. Where is mommy? Under the table with her empty vodka bottle because you won't stop asking where things are.

On the night before we finally signed papers for our new house, we went out to dinner to celebrate our impending release from hotel purgatory. We sat in the outdoor patio of a great little Mexican restaurant that happened to be less than a block from the commuter rail tracks. As we were waiting for our meal to arrive, the tale tell ding!dong! of an approaching train sounded, so Thom walked over to the tracks to give River an up-close look of his beloved engines. When they returned River had a look of pure delight and kept signing "train" and pointing to the empty tracks. As we dined, another train came by, so I walked back to the tracks for a second viewing with my overjoyed little boy.

Throughout the meal, River could hardly sit still. His eagerness to see "trains!" kept him from eating and kept us busy explaining that we couldn't make the trains appear just because he wanted one.

Where is the train? It's gone, honey. Maybe another one will come later. Where is the train? Not here yet. Where is the train? We can't just pull it out of our ass, dear; you'll have to wait.

Finally realizing that mommy and daddy couldn't fulfill his request, he turned to a higher power. As the waiter approached to check in on us, River signed "train" frantically to the nice man. As he walked away to get our bill, River's face expressed his unbelievable disappointment that the waiter wouldn't bring out his order.