Our friend the choo-choo train

We now live really close by the train tracks, and I know that for some people, that would be bad news. But the world is such a different place in a toddler's eyes. I told Nalini that it is a really lucky thing to see the choo-choo train go by in the morning, and that it is a sign that everything is going to be great that day. Now she rides to school in the morning always with great anticipation that we might have to stop by the tracks and wait until a train goes by - and what a happy thing it is when that happens!

But that's not the only way the choo-choo trains contribute to make our lives better. Sometimes Nalini has a hard time going to sleep. She will cry and cry saying that she doesn't want to go to bed. Tonight, Jamila and I had her in our arms, all of us lying in her bed, and we were trying to console her that going to bed was a good thing. The tears wouldn't stop running though. Not until a train passed by. I said "Listen, the choo-choo train just passed by. It came to wish you good-night. If you stay really quiet, you can probably listen to the other trains ride by, saying 'choo-choo, good-night'." She quietly laid her head on my chest, and I sang a song about a little train that was going to sleep. Two more trains passed by before Nalini fell deeply asleep in my arms, a big smile on her face.

I wish the train conductors knew that they were lulling a little one to sleep, as they passed chaga-chaga right by our house. I'm sure it would make their night a little better too.