Train wreck

Meeting your idol in person can be the most thrilling experience of your life. But if you're two it can also be the most traumatic.

My nephew Tytony turned two last week. To celebrate, my brother Brian invited the whole family and some friends to a pizza party at an Italian restaurant in Bay Ridge. A Saturday afternoon being besieged by 10 "active" children and a multitude of relentlessly inquisitive relatives (How's the building? How's Luis? How's your job? Have you fundamentally changed your relationship with food?) is tiring. After the fourth slice of pizza and a pitcher of Diet Coke, I was ready for a nap.

That is, until Thomas the Tank Engine rolled in.


The "real" Thomas.

Last year Tytony was mesmerized when a life-sized Elmo showed up at his party. But Elmo is so one-year-old. This year Tyler is obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine, an anthropomorphic locomotive that has become a cult figure among preschoolers. Thomas started out as a storybook character, created by an Anglican minister for his son in the 1940s. In the last 10 years, he has become the star of his own TV show and has been merchandised by HIT Entertainment into a lucrative, multimllion-dollar industry of toys, greeting cards, puzzles, and games. I've watched a few Thomas shows and find them entertaining; I might like him more if his parent company didn't also own the rights to Barney.

It's more than a little surreal when a walking, talking locomotive suddenly appears during a pizza party--or really any time, for that matter. For Tyler it was just terrifying. The minute he saw Thomas come in and wave, he burst into tears and ran screaming into a corner. Our We were very supportive: we all laughed.


Thomas waves hello.


Tyler escapes to the safety of his mother, Kim's, arms (left) as the giant Thomas approaches.

The other kids, who were much older, were thrilled by Thomas's appearance. Things got even better when Thomas started making balloon animals for everyone. Who knew that a locomotive could make balloon animals?


Thomas shows the kids what he can do with a balloon.

Tytony was still uncertain of what to make of Thomas, who looked like a bomb pop with a happy face. But then he got a balloon puppy, and his mood started to change.


Tytony gets a balloon animal.

As Thomas churned out balloon animal after balloon animal, the hijinks revved into high gear and all the kids formed a giant conga line, with Thomas as the caboose. This was quite a different role for Thomas to play, but he handled it quite well.


Shake your caboose.

After cake, Tytony was all smiles. Thomas the Tank Engine had saved the day.


The sugar kicks in.

Waiting for an R train to come on a weekend can be trying. I thought about asking Thomas for a ride home, but the woman in the Thomas suit wearing fuzzy slippers looked pretty worn out herself.