What we're not doing this weekend

Here's what we're not doing this weekend: Spending $14 a person to go see Thomas the Tank Engine in person.

Does that make us bad parents? TheBoy LOOOOOVES Thomas. He loves his Thomas shirt, he loves his Thomas books, and when he go to the video store to get, say, the next three Deadwood discs for the weekend, he invariably demands a Thomas DVD. "Watch Thomas? Watch Thomas? Watch Thomas?"

This is new. For a while there, his world revolved around everything Elmo. (Click on that link at your own risk: Elmo has been known to cause severe tooth decay.) He still likes Elmo -- his toothbrush, for example, is a snazzy orange-and-red number with Elmo emblazoned on the handle. But he's moved on.

These phases are interesting. We seem to have made it through our Wiggles phase, which disappoints me only in that I had a bit of a crush on that nice Anthony fellow. I'm sure that next we'll get Bob the Builder, and then dinosaurs, and then . . . girls, maybe? Eek.

Still, $14 for a 30-minute ride on a train that's not really Thomas seems a little steep. Sorry, kid.