Our oldest, Will, is a train lover. (understatement there, btw) When he was younger, I was always excited when we ran into someone that "spoke Thomas the Train" - the kids that knew which tenders and coaches went with which engines; the kids that knew which ones worked in the slate yard and which ones worked in at the quarry. It just made the playtime easier.
As Will has grown, some "train talk" has stuck with us as a part of our daily conversation.
When the boys are slowing down on a chore, I may tell them to "Keep chugging along!"
When Will gets upset, he may refer to "letting off some steam."
When it's time to leave the house, sometimes I'll say, "Let's boogy-woogy choo-choo train!"
Nathan and Wittman are more into video games. For awhile everything was Super Mario Brothers. One of the super powers is called a "Star Power" and it makes the player go really, really fast and nothing can get in it's way.
Sometimes I would tell Witt to clean up his room with Star Power and he'd get a big smile and run around really fast cleaning up.
They are all also very familiar with pausing a video game or movie. I have recently incorporated "Pause" into our life.
Pause the lego building, it's time to go to the store.
Pause your thought process, I'm in the middle of a conversation.
Pause all screens, let's do chores.
Using the word "Pause" has really helped with transitioning between activities. They know that "Pause" means it will still be there - just as they left it - when they return.
Do you have any words or phrases that are special to your family?
