Of Silent Letters and Alien Trains

~Gedalya~

He knows how to read, and is very aware of the nuances of language, such as silent letters and exceptions to rules. When we were choosing drinks in a pizza shop one day, I kinda tuned him out while he was lecturing about the silent letters found in the word "apple." I figured that he'll take the apple juice that he chose and we'll then head to the table.
But I couldn't ignore his ever-escalating excited voice,
"Right, it doesn't make a sound? SN? I want apple juice with silent S and silent N."
One glance at the bottle he was holding threw me into fits of giggles.

Also, he is going to be a pilot, and fly a red plane.

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~Zusha~

Gazing off at the stars as we walk home one evening, Zusha notices three stars in one row. The poor city child gazes up at the polluted sky and sees a handful of stars. "One, two, three, four..." he counts them, "eleven, twelve! It's a galaxy! A galaxy, Mama!"
Yes, to a city lad, that is a galaxy. Sad.
Well, in any case, he points up to this star:

and announces, "This star is the sun of Thomas' world." He was talking about Thomas the Tank Engine. "Thomas and his friends live on a planet that flies around this star, the middle one."

I guess that means that those trains are aliens...? Well, they do weird me out. I thought they were cute little trains with faces, but that was in my previous, innocent life. Before I read the book. My in-laws got the kids a nice, big hard cover Thomas and Friends book, with many stories in it. I read the boys a couple of stories, and now refuse to read any more. In each and every story, some train is calling some other train names, laughing at someone, boasting, putting someone down, gossiping, and otherwise emotionally abusing each other. In each and every story! I felt bad that the boys now had a bad taste in their mouth about these trains. So together we decided not to read the book, but only look at the pictures. I understand that the story line is British, and they have a sense of humor that is unique, but...
So in short, I accept Zusha's alien theory.

Also, Zusha will own a large department store when he grows up, and will fix sidewalks on the side. His store will be near the airport so he can be next to Gedalya. He will drive him to and from work. Zusha will also pop into the airport to say bye to Gedalya when he's getting ready to fly, and Gedalya will pop into Zusha's store to stock up on snacks before the flight.

It warms this Mama's heart to see how close these two boys are growing.