Project Thomas the Tank Engine

Did I ever mention that I was supposed to be an art major? I was offered a scholarship to an art school and declined for the more reliable accounting major (Sandy's version). My dad's version is that an art school offered me a small scholarship comparatively to their outrageous tuition in an attempt to lure a bright-eyed seventeen year old who was subsequently flattered and enamored with the prospect of having her name listed next to an art school and art scholarship on the commencement program. "What are you going to do with an art major?" was my dad's common question my senior year. How could he not understand that I would draw and paint...duh! Needless to say, after the intervention of a kind-hearted guidance counselor who happened to be a priest, I became an accountant.

My creative outlet was then squelched during my college years by demanding business and accounting classes. Post-college and on to marriage and child-bearing; my hopes of expressing myself artistically hung on the birth of a bouncing bundle of pink. Not only could I envision the amazing tiny girl clothes (fashion was another enjoyed forte), but the colorfully painted baby girl room walls and a girl to share my artsy indulgences filled my pregnant mind. Yet another blow to my creative self with a birth of boy #1 (and <gasp>, later #2 and #3). But regardless of the setbacks, my resourcefulness and desire to fill this artistic void resulted in my finding an outlet to do just that. While there were no fun dresses with funky tights and mini-sized hip boots in my future, I could do many creative things with a Halloween costume. Yes, my creative energy erupted as I proclaimed myself the official Halloween designer and costumer to the Lane boys.

Good puppy :)

Although my Year 1 effort was a bit of testing the waters, it was this design that spurred the initial creativity and future of more elaborate outfits. On his first Halloween at six months old, I turned Zach into an adorable dalmatian. Although my efforts and abilities were amateur at best, the cuteness of Baby Zach helped pull off the look. A simple conversion of a white one-piece fleece with added black spots and floppy ears and a red bow completed Zach's first costume. Year 2 I added myself into the mix by creating mom and son matching pumpkin outfits along with pumpkin lids that tied to top of our heads

By Year 3 and age two, Zach was in awe and wonderment of everything fun and new in his life. I felt challenged to create something phenomenal for the little Zach Man. I started thinking about the proper character and design a month in advance, when a great idea popped into my brain; Thomas the Tank Engine. Zach LOVED everything Thomas and we were smack in the middle of the continual stimulation stage...video tapes being constantly played, hours of pushing the magnetic engines around the train track, and wooden trains carefully chosen to accompany us before any adventure out of the house. The Thomas idea felt nothing short of brilliant as I started designing my creation.

I opted to use boxes, felt material, and shiny paint to create a toddler size wearable Thomas the Tank Engine from scratch. After spending an entire day cutting and gluing boxes while carefully reviewing many open board books with the original Thomas dimensions in front of me, I free-handed a completed cardboard model. Next was the cutting and pasting of felt pieces and then careful paint work to mirror the beloved original tank. A hole was left in the top for Zach's head and arm holes on the side. In an effort to make it comfortable for my cute tot, I added a thick blue ribbon to secure the box comfortably around his little body. I was thrilled with my final work of art as I sat on my living room floor covered in glue and paint admiring my work.

I think I must name this photo "pride and ego"

With two weeks until Halloween and the excitement of my creation in front of me, I couldn't resist accessorizing even more. I bought matching engineer bib overalls for Zach and I to wear and made a special trip downtown to the official Union Pacific gift shop to buy hats to match. In retrospect, I now understand Zach's many complaints on how I dressed him up as a toddler. I obviously yearned for an American Girl fix. So equipped with a wooded train whistle for added affect, I was ready for our first costume reveal. The first Halloween party of the year was at my health club, Prairie Life Center. This annual fun fest always hit the calendar a few days before Halloween, so it was perfect timing for Zach and I to strut our stuff along with cousins, Russell and Brynn.

After some pictures at home to memorialize the event, I piled Zach into his car seat and drove with great anticipation to PLC. After a grand entrance and people inquiring on the unique costume I was carrying (no one had seen this replicated at any Target or specialty costume shop), I carefully placed the box over my mini-engineer. And to my complete shock and horror, he burst into tears while screaming "NO!!" So I did what any good mother who spent hours and hours on the costume would do; I took him into a corner and tried gently placing it on him, then tried coaxing, begging, bribing, until finally resorting to threatening. Nothing worked and he only screamed louder, longer, and harder. Exasperated, I temporarily gave up and decided to let him play the games for a while as he would "warm up" to the spectacular costume I had made for him.

As we walked into the decorated gym, I thought the next best step would be to let him hold it and show off his Thomas to others. I was convinced that this would be the trick to get him to comply. Zach didn't cry when I gently handed him the Thomas costume, but instead hesitantly looked me right in the eye as he accepted my treasure. And then without another thought, he grabbed the perfectly placed ribbon and started dragging my beautiful creation across the dirty gym floor. Within minutes he was running around the gym entertaining himself by whipping the box while tugging at the ribbon. He was nothing short of a two year old boy gone wild. At this point, I completely gave up and resorted to picking out my favorite candy from his bag and drowning my misery.

Zach with cousins, Russell and Boo-Boo (someone is not happy!)

We still enjoyed the rest of our Halloween festivities, but with Thomas dragged behind Zach as a prop rather than as the planned costume. Zach was an engineer with Thomas as a sidekick. And Zach was happy; so Mom was happy.

Zach does it his way

Pals, Woody and Buzz

The next year I didn't give up and even took my game up a notch. With a chubby new baby brother in tow and a love for everything Toy Story, I created (no patterns) a Buzz Lightyear and Woody costume for the boys. Ben was an adorable stout version of Woody. This go around, Zach was thrilled to dress up as his new favorite character, Buzz Lightyear. I painstakingly created Buzz by piecing together various superhero patterns while mirroring what I saw in Zach's Toy Story picture books. The final product was so impressive that Zach won the "best costume" award at a kids Halloween run. I was one proud artistic mama. Who needs girls or art school?

This was the start of even grander ideas and Halloween creations in the years to come. The next two years followed with cute matching dinosaurs and fighting ninja's (my Aunt Gwen called them little Elvis'). I was on top of the world, basking in my creative glory, when my costumer days came to a crashing halt. All it takes to stop a mom dead in her tracks is to have her child cry real tears. This is exactly what happened and led to the end of homemade costumes in the Lane house.

Obviously chubby Ben is more interested in the candy on the floor

After a day of school and an enthusiastic sharing of future Halloween costumes with his classmates, six year old Zach came home in tears. As I comforted and coaxed his misery out of him, Zach looked up at me with his big blue eyes and delivered the blow. "Mom, why can't I be like all the other kids and just buy my Halloween costume at the store?" So with those words and a few tears, an era came to an abrupt end. I complied in allowing Zach the accommodation of selecting his specially made costume from Target. We have never looked back. Of note is that I have since added an art room in my basement for an artistic outlet to fill this void. And to my boys' chagrin; none of my projects involve matching outfits or other wearable art.

The last hoorah