It seems as if though almost overnight my little guy has become a big boy. Complex, well-thought out sentences have replaced the short, choppy ones of just a year ago. His pronunciation has vastly improved, and gone are the days of guessing what he had just said. I no longer need to dress him, and he's such a good little helper. He spontaneously tells us that he loves us and compliments us on our clothes (so funny and terribly sweet).
But the most drastic change (or at least the most noticeable, since the other ones were gradual changes) is his new love for all things boy.
At not-nearly-4, I thought I had at least another year before he would discover that kind of play. I thought we had another year of trains, dinosaurs, wild animals, planets, and bugs. While he still enjoys all those things, it is super heros, ninjas, and Star Wars that have taken over the pretend play these days. I gather they were introduced by the older kids at his school, so his understanding of each is a little questionable (he keeps talking about Darn Vader.. heee!). But he knows there's good guys and bad guys, and at almost-4, that seems to be a fascinating concept. Last Christmas, while out shopping, I took a stroll down the super hero aisle at the toy store. I was not impressed - these action figures were too bulky, too angry looking, too grown up.
So I returned home, ordered some wood peg people from Etsy, and started planning. I dug up my cheap acrylic craft pain and started googling images of my favorite super heros. By the time the wood peg people arrived a couple of days later, I had a plan. It took me probably 4 hours to paint all 5 of these guys - the hardest part was waiting for them to dry. I love how cute they are, and I especially loved how happy my little guy looked when he unwrapped them at Christmastime. Since then, I've had to spray them with a sealant/varnish to keep the paint from getting damaged. It seems these super heros have a tendency of flying into each other. Or the wall. Or pretty much anything.
I love watching him play with these guys. I'm really not ready for big boy toys - and this lets me hold on to "cute" just a little bit longer.
Of course, he did ask for "a Spiderman with arms" for his birthday. Ahhh, well...
