My son (now 4) rather likes dinosaurs, and he had a "dinosaur month" a while back (i.e., all dino/all the time), but he's loved his wooden trains since he was about 1. Now it's more about track building than the trains themselves, but trains reign.
As for reactions, we've been getting smiles and comments from people since DS was 2 1/2, especially when we'd go to our huge hosp/clinic and DS would read all the signs and elevator numbers. The other day at Great Clips, I got kind of a funny look from a mom (whose kid looked to be about 8) when DS4 read the sign and said "hey mom, you can just get a shampoo here for $5 if you want." That was the first not-really-positive look I've received. Up till now it's been happy reactions. I guess those days are over.
