Granny has a soft spot for The Toddler. They have a special relationship, most likely due to the amount of time he spends there, whilst his frenetic mother madly dashes about after his older siblings.
In the days leading up to my daughter’s birthday party, where eleven little girls would be sticking sequins and butterfly gems to their heart’s content, he was once again booked in for a morning at Granny’s. However, given it was also his second birthday, she took pity on him and decided that she would take him on his very own birthday trip. They were to take the train from Gillingham to Salisbury, have a brief biscuit in the station coffee shop and return on the next train home. Based on his obsession with his own wooden train set, this was sure to be a huge treat and a great success. Granny arrived fully prepared, with a small bag containing a change of clothes (she had not envisaged he would be part potty trained!) – and his obligatory muslin square. As they stood on the platform watching the train arriving, his eyes were on stalks. After all, this train was a lot bigger than Thomas the Tank Engine.
The doors opened and Granny led him onto the train. The only problem was that as far as he was concerned, you played with trains, you did not get on them. He lay on the floor of the carriage screaming with all his might, “No, No. Mama, Mama,” whilst a queue of commuters waited behind them. Granny lifted the now rigid little body into the compartment, to be faced with a man who promptly put his hands over his ears, making it quite clear he found the whole scene extremely offensive. Granny, now flustered and hot, trying to cope with the terrified little boy, made a quick exit into the corridor, where she desperately tried to divert him. “Look at the sheep. Look at the tractor,” she said frantically pointing out of the window as they sped through the countryside at high speed. By Tisbury, he finally began to calm down and realised he was not being taken away from his mother on this huge, loud, rolling beast. They arrived at Salisbury rather shell shocked and Granny was weary to say the least. After enjoying a run up and down the ramp to cross the platforms, with cries of, “Weeeeeee,” they parked themselves in a nearby café and enjoyed a much longed for strong double expresso and a flapjack. Back on the train, the Toddler began to delight in the whole experience, waving at passing trains and passengers. Meanwhile, Granny leant back, heavy eyed, wondering how he was to cope with his first forthcoming trip on an aeroplane. The thing about children is they are so wonderfully unpredicatable – you just never know if the treat is tremendous or traumatic!
