Over Thanksgiving, we spent a lot of time in two places: Ashford Park in Atlanta, by good fortune located below the flight path of planes flying in and out of Peachtree Dekalb Airport and right next to railroad tracks serving both MARTA and regular freight trains; and the Island of Sodor, home of Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends. Grandboy couldn't have been happier.
At the park he can hear a plane approaching long before those of us with older ears. He starts pointing to the sky and exclaiming, "Whoa!" Whoa-whoa-whoa! And sure enough, a couple of minutes later, an airplane crosses overhead. He's always pleased that he's able to locate it in the sky when it finally comes into sight.
Anything having to do with trains warrants the call-out, "Choo-choo!" He never tires of watching the freight trains pass by, however many cars are attached or however long it takes for the caboose to show up. Oddly enough, he can tell the difference between the excitement of a solid old freight train and the sleeker MARTA trains. MARTA doesn't get much of a reaction from GrandBoy.
The other choo-choo eliciting interest is Thomas. Thank goodness for Roku and instant Netflix, which let us watch episodes of the little Sodor train engine at will and kept GrandBoy entertained during the holiday hub-bub. Now, you may not believe this, but his mother and I heard him clearly say, "I want to watch Thomas," yesterday afternoon. We looked at each other - Did you hear what I heard? So I'm willing to testify that GrandBoy's first complete sentence was about the choo-choo Thomas.
Me thinks it will be a transportation-themed Christmas this year for GrandBoy. Now, let's all sing along:
They're two, they're four,
They're six, they're eight.
Shunting trucks and hauling freight.
Red and green and brown and blue
They're the really useful crew . . .
