Stash

AJ has a secret stash. He keeps a pile of trains hidden under a pillow on his bed and guards this stash with his life. If Davey so much as starts up the stepstool to AJ's big boy bed, there is trouble as AJ tries to protect his hidden treasures. He keeps his favorite trains there, which is a little silly because then he can't play with them, but he likes the arrangement because it means that they are his and only his. I guess this is not unlike 50 year-old men who have vintage collector cars that they keep in their garages and don't drive.

Interestingly, having his own private set of trains in his room seems to have made him more able to share other downstairs trains with Davey, maybe because (1) they aren't his prize trains and (2) having his own off-limits toys makes letting go of some others easier. In the past few weeks, AJ has offered Davey the old-but-still-coveted Gordon train on multiple occasions, at least 10, and each time it continues to surprise me because this is a huge, huge, step for someone who previously preferred to take multiple time outs in a row rather than even share one lowly boxcar with his brother. Whatever developmental milestone this is, I love it. It may also have something to do with our nanny's recent discussion with AJ about how Santa takes toys away from little boys who don't share with their brothers and her threats to call Santa on the phone and report bad behavior.