Trains

Sylvie loves trains. She saw a train on a tv show and that was it. Sylvie has a Lego train set that she loves to assemble, making intricate systems of tracks with elevations. She plays 'train' on the floor of her room but sometimes on the floor of the family room where there is much more space to work. 

             Sylvie's Rail Line

Her favourite time to play 'train' is when her one year old sister, Caitlin, is having her afternoon nap. Then Sylvie can play free from the interruptions of 'Caitzilla,' who swoops in like her fantasy namesake and lifts pieces of the construction recklessly out of place only to fling them around the room. You can imagine this doesn't go over too well with Sylvie.

                                           Caitzilla's Destruction

How much of Sylvie's interest in trains is genetic? On my father's side of the family, the Prettys, there was a family of five railway workers, including two engineers and a conductor. My grandfather, Sam, and his brother, Fred, were engineers, while their brother, Cyril, was a conductor. On Rick's side of the family, Joe Lawrence, his great grandfather, was a conductor as well. His great uncle, Jim Lawrence, was a brakeman. 

Meanwhile, in Prince Edward Island today, Sylvie is interested in 'ballerina moves,' (as she calls them), princesses, dresses, tutus and trains. Some would say she's a reincarnation of one of these ancestors. 

I wonder!