Morgan M. – Stackadoos
Brandi H. – Elemenosqueeze
Bill S. – Train Day swag

Winners have been notified by email, and have 30 days to claim their prize before another name is drawn. So check your spam filters, folks!

For some extra fun (and to get people to enter… hello, free toys aren’t enough?!?) on Facebook I had folks post their favorite train song. It was such a great collection of tunes (several of which I’d never heard, or not heard in 30+ years) that I wanted to share them, along with a few (okay, twenty) of my own favorites, in what I’m titling:

The Great Train Collection!

Volume 1 (Reader faves)
C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJ’s (C’mon n’ admit it… you love this song, too)
Long Train Runnin’ – The Doobie Brothers
A Peanut Sat On a Railroad Track (One of the oldies-but-goodies from childhood. This version has additional hilarious verses about other foods getting pulverized.)
Peace Train – Cat Stevens
Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight & the Pips
Marrakesh Express – Crosby Stills & Nash
Chattanooga Choo Choo – The Andrews Sisters
Casey Jones – Furry Lewis (Thanks to Bill Steber of The Jake Leg Stompers, who performs lots of train songs!)
Love Train – The O’Jays
Train – Goldfrapp
The Trolley Song – Judy Garland
All Aboard – The Nat “King” Cole Trio
Down By The Station
Trains – Jill Sobule
My Baby Thinks He’s A Train – Rosanne Cash
Morning Train (Nine To Five) – Sheena Easton
City Of New Orleans -  Willie Nelson
Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie – The Manhattan Transfer
I’ve Been Working On The Railroad – Pete Seeger or, if you must The Chipmunks

Volume 2 (DD’s faves)
Conjunction Junction – Schoolhouse Rock (An all-time favorite, and so educational!)
Cross the Tracks (We Better Go Back) – Maceo & The Macks
Jumping Someone Else’s Train – The Cure (coolest train song, ever)
Big Rock Candy Mountain – Harry McClintock
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
Ticket to Ride – The Beatles (It’s debatable whether this is really about trains, but it’s my blog so I agree with Paul.)
Golden Train – Penguin Prison
On A Train – Yuksek
Freight Train to Nowhere – Mark Heard
Last Train To Clarksville – The Monkees
Orange Blossom Special -  Johnny Cash
The Loco-Motion – Little Eva or, if you must Dora the Explorer (sorry, I draw the line at Kylie)
Locomotion – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Trans-Europe Express – Kraftwerk
Trains And Boats And Planes – Dwight Yoakam
This City Never Sleeps – Eurythmics
Zoo Station – U2
Train Song – Mindy Smith
People Get Ready – Eva Cassidy (original version by The Impressions, written by then member Curtis Mayfield)

You can hear the whole playlist on Spotify.

(PS: For an unbelievably EXHAUSTIVE list of train-related songs, go here.)

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Oh yeah, and here are a couple of pics from our ‘lil Train Day adventure to Gaithersburg, MD. There wasn’t a whole lot to it (Hopefully Union Station is repaired by next year) but JJ loved it nonetheless. Plus he got a cool hat out of it.

No, I can't read yet. So?

The Little Engineer That Could

Did anyone else make it to a Train Day celebration? Send me some pics and I’ll post them here. You can also post them on the Designer Daddy Facebook page or share them on National Train Day’s gallery page.

(So many train puns, so little time…)

Saturday May 12 is the 5th annual National Train Day, a nationwide celebration of all things locomotive. Marking the 143rd anniversary of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad, National Train Day will be especially tootriffic for the kiddos!

There will be four big-time, whistle-blowing events* held in iconic train stations in NY, Chicago, LA and Philly. In addition to tours of real live freight and commuter train cars (as if that isn’t enough to make any little kid’s head explode) the events will also include:

• Interactive/educational activities teaching kids how trains work through crafts and demonstrations
• Radio Disney serving as emcee/DJ of the festivities
• Dora (you know, the Explora) making appearances at select locations — meeting and greeting and probably pulling  things out of her backpack. Check out her feisty cover of Little Eva’s “Locomotion”!
• Giveaways from Amtrak (the creators of National Train Day, btw) including t-shirts and other train-related swag

Can’t make it one of the larger parties? Not to worry! There will be 100+ smaller — but still fun — events all over the US. Chug on over to National Train Day’s web site to find the one closest to you, and check out what unique festivities your local train station or other family-friendly venue has planned!

The National Train Day site is also a great way to get all connected and interactive: visit the Gallery to share your photos, videos and stories about your train adventures for a chance to win prizes!

And speaking of prizes…

B.ONUS! (free stuff giveaway!)

One of JJ’s (and Daddy’s) favorite toy companies, B. Toys, is the official toy partner of National Train Day, and will have activity stations at each of the four main festivals, showcasing their awesome building block toys Elemenosqueeze (ages 6 mos – 3 yrs) and Stackadoos (ages 2 – 6 yrs). And because Designer Daddy is such a B. Toys fan, they’ve given me an Elemenosqueeze and Stackadoos set to give away to my wonderfully loyal and style-conscious readers!

Elemenosqueeze A-Z architectural blocks are great for squeezing, splashing or chewing (BPA free)!

Stackadoos are a big ole' bucket of 68 connectable blocks that bristle with fun and color!

To enter, just post your toy preference in the comments section here! You can also be entered by commenting/sharing via Facebook, Tweeting and retweeting, or by becoming a follower (on Twitter) or liker (on Facebook). Enough options for ya?

The contest opens NOW and closes at midnight on Friday, May 11th (National Train Day Eve). I’ll draw one winner at random for each toy.

But what if I’m too old for B. Toys, you ask? Well, then I feel sorry for you. But if that’s the case, I’ll have a National Train Day goody (exact item TBD) to give away as well! Just indicate that in your comment, tweet, post, whatever, and I’ll draw a third winner from that pool.

Happy National Train Day everyone — all aboard for fun!

(Sorry, couldn’t resist one last pun)

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(PS: Anyone who attends an event, please send me a pic or two and I’ll post them on Facebook or in a follow up here. If you can snap a photo of your kiddo playing at the B. Toys station, I’ll forward it to them and it might show up on their site as well!)

*What?!? No event at DC’s Union Station? Unfortunately the station’s gorgeous ceiling is undergoing restoration due to damage caused by last fall’s earthquake, so they’re unable to host an event. Maybe next year…

Even the Lord of the Sith wants clean teeth (say that 5 times fast)

Okay, I was just gonna post this photo and be done with it, but then I started poking around to see if I could post a link of where to buy JJ’s awesome Darth Vader tee (which, by the way, I unknowingly dressed him in this morning — on the unofficial Star Wars holiday). Couldn’t find it anywhere, so I searched the Googles and came upon this…

…and this…

…and this.

I spooked the dog with my multiple “OH MY GOD”s at how adorable these are. Painfully cute stuff. Visit Mi Cielo’s Etsy shop and check out the full line of tees and infant bodysuits (some of which come with matching rattles).

In addition to several more Star Wars designs, there’s a gaggle of other pop culture icons to make you giggle: Optimus Prime, Thor, Mr. T, Ron Burgundy(!), and Totoro to name a few (yes she also has bunnies and pirates and Elmo for you less-adventurous types). Of course I’m begging her for an Aquaman. Each is custom made in Hawaii, so they ain’t cheap. But seriously, can you put a price on something this delightful?

(PS: Several come in adult sizes, too!)

I learned about them through a deal on Zulilly, but you can always buy direct from Pedoodle. Their sizes run from 0-4 years, and while they do change lines from time-to-time, you can often find older styles on Amazon or Buy.com. Here are a few of my favorite styles — for the boys and the girls…

L to R: Brown Trainers, Blue Bumper Cars, Island Hoppers

L to R: Flower Power, Wise Gals, Garnet Girl

Oh yeah, and here’s a mini fashion show of JJ and his Pedoodles in action…

Rockin' a devil/pirate ensemble in Red Bowlers

Easter Sunday dandiness in Brown Trainers

Bumpin' on a log in Reef sandals

And finally, all orders come in these nifty canvas bags (with plastic windows) great for storing the shoes or recycling into a purse or tote to hold those precious action figures, mismatched doll clothes, or grubby handfuls of rocks.

And to you and all the other Likers, posters, commenters, forwarders, followers, retweeters, sharers and readers, I send you a heartfelt…

A bunch of Papa’s family came to visit last weekend, so he quickly whipped up a batch of his droolingly awesome lasagna. However, he forgot to add the meat (still tasted great) so we had a freezerful of beef and pork with no cookouts on the horizon.

So I whipped up a batch of my not-quite-as-droolingly-awesome-but-still-pretty-darn-tasty meatloaf. The mountain of meat wouldn’t all fit in the loaf pan, so I saw the cupcake tin and thought, “What the heck?” I was pretty pleased with the results — complete with mashed potato frosting and green pea sprinkles — as it was yummy as hell and a great way to control portion size.

I was also hopeful JJ (who is a pretty picky eater these days) might get excited by my culinary creativity and try something new. Seriously, what kid doesn’t like mashed potatoes?!? Alas, as soon as he got close enough to see it was not, in fact, a real cupcake, he shunned it outright. Oh well… more for me!

Oh yeah, and here’s JJ a couple of days earlier with Papa’s lasagna. There’s no competing with a home-cooked Italian meal home-cooked by an Italian. Molto bene!

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If you’re interested, here’s the meatloaf recipe:
This is for a normal meatloaf that serves 8. I’m not sure how many cupcakes it would make if that’s all you used it for. Probably around 12.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Non-stick spray or grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan and/or cupcake tin.

Combine in a large bowl:
12 oz ground beef
12 oz ground pork
3/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup breadcrumbs
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup bbq sauce
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Put on the side, to brush on halfway through cooking time:
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup bbq sauce

Knead mixture with your hands until well blended. Don’t overmix.
Loaf: fill loaf pan with the meat mixture and place pan on a baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven.
Bake for 1 to 1 -1/4 hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of loaf reads 160ºF. Pour off excess fat and let stand for 15 minutes.
Cupcakes: pack meat mixture fairly tightly into each cup, leaving the tops pretty flat.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of each cupcake reads 160ºF.
Let cool for 15 minutes, remove and top with a layer of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with peas or parsley, drizzle with ketchup/bbq sauce mix, etc. EAT!

Looking chic and cheeky betwixt Papa & Daddy

JJ strikes a casual pose in the church nursery, contemplating the vintage toy collection

Showing off our Easter duds

These are also the first photos I’ve posted taken with my new camera. I’m still re-learning how to take SLR photos, and you can tell we had a hard time finding the right spot that lit us up without either blinding us or drowning our faces in cherry blossom shadows. Hopefully better shots are yet to come!

Got any cute Easter pics of your kiddo (or dog or yourself) to share? Post them on our Facebook page, or on your own page and post the link here.

But then I saw some over-sized plastic eggs, thought of JJ’s obsession with love of superheroes, and a new idea was hatched. I had intended to make something from all six eggs in the set I bought, but alas only finished one. Still, I’m proud to present… Aquabunny Egg!

Aquabunny chats tubside with the other plastic creatures of the deep.

I was really happy with how it turned out, but upon even further thought, decided to wait and give it to JJ next year, as it’s still pretty delicate for his grabby hands. Plus it looks awfully cool on the shelf with the rest of my Aquaman stuff. Or maybe I’ll mass produce them and sell them on Etsy… any takers?

Aquabunny keeps watch from his perch atop the soap dish.

And in case you’re curious…
Materials: plastic egg (I paired a green bottom with an orange top), foam sheets cut out to create the ears, feet and “A” symbol, pompoms for the nose and tail, googly eyes (for the eyes, duh), and dental floss for the whiskers. After trying Elmer’s and Krazy, found hot glue to be the most effective in holding all these disparate textures together.

Superheroes have been an important part of my life for as long as I remember. When most kids were outside playing in the sunshine and generally being healthy, normal children, I was holed up inside watching or drawing the Super Friends. And each night I’d ask my little brother what he was going to dream about, but I really didn’t care… it was just an excuse to spin elaborate tales of how I was going to dream about flying with Superman, swimming with Aquaman, or riding in Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. Even the first drawing contest I ever won was for a self-portrait wearing my Superman t-shirt.

Fast-forward a whole lot of years, wherein superhero cartoons begat comics collecting which begat a love of pop art which begat becoming a graphic designer. All these years later I’m still obsessed with bright colors, bold graphics, and lots of dots. In my office hangs a poster of Warhol’s Superman, an original Aquaman animation cell from the 60′s, and several shelves of vintage (and some not-so-vintage) comic-related books, action figures and other tchotchkes.

About three years ago, my love of comics even played a part in us becoming parents. As part of the adoption process, we created a Family Album from which potential birth parents would choose us. The album contained photos of us, our house, friends and family, as well as letters of introduction, places we’d traveled, things we liked to do. The birth parents that ended up choosing us were drawn to, among other things, the fact that I was a fellow comic book fan.

Fast-forward a couple more years, and you can imagine how proud I was the first time I heard JJ sing himself to sleep with the Batman theme song, how excited I was when he learned to pronounce “Aquaman,” and how tickled I am to watch him bound around the house in his Superman pajamas.

Yet sometimes I feel I’ve created a monster. Every ride in my now car requires multiple spins of both the Spider-Man and Batman TV themes, as does each visit to the internet and most times the TV is turned on. (Keep in mind it’s just the theme songs he wants to hear — not entire episodes.) While Spider-Man’s theme song is cheesy and dated, at least there are some fun lyrics (“Is he strong? Listen bud, he’s got radioactive blood!”) But Holy Chinese torture, Batman! — that show’s titular tune has only one word in it! What’s more, JJ recently started insisting on being called Robin. Thus I’m Batman, Papa is Aquaman, and Cordi (the dog) is Wonder Woman. It was cute at first, but it can be hard to get your son’s attention (or get him to take you seriously) if he’s decided to answer to a different name.

Papa even gets in on the action!

Then just a few days ago, something happened to put JJ’s super-obsessions in perspective. As he and Papa headed out the door for daycare, for the first time I had to coerce a goodbye hug and kiss. Normally these are given with much exuberance, so I’ll admit it was a little heartbreaking. It reminded me that — if he’s anything like most kids — there might be days (or years) where my son may not be affectionate with or even speak to me. Everything is a phase, both the good and the bad. So while I enjoy the cuddly moments and hero worship, I can also endure the unending “Na na na na na na na na”s that are also a part of JJ’s current stage of development. I need to revel in my current identity of SuperDaddy, provider of all things cool and doer of no wrong — realizing that before I know it I’ll just be mild-mannered Dad.

I’ve found this phrase pretty useless in teaching my toddler just about anything. Yet it’s one of the top 10 (if not the #1) default commands parents use when trying to bring their wee ones in line. I know I’ve certainly spouted it at JJ in desperate situations, and always to no avail.

What was lacking? Specifics.
“Don’t poke the dog in the butt.”
“Bite your food, not your hand.”
“Those are Daddy’s toys. Please don’t remove them from their original packaging or they lose their value.”
“Buddy, no rocking the extremely large, expensive TV back and forth.”
“Stop touching that. It’s got poop on it.”

Niceness (like sharing) is nebulous and subjective. The dog’s butt is not.