Four years

Making (and tasting) psychedelic birthday cake

Big birthday bash

Ronan is four!  He's wanted to be four for months, and his day finally came.  We threw our first party with the whole class invited, held in a big campus room because our house is a tornado of sorting what gets stored (out of the way of our renter) and what gets moved to California when we leave.  It was a pretty good party, and the dry ice colored soap bubbles weren't flawless but were fun.  

Events and happenings
Halloween was a big hit this year.  Ro went trick or treating for real this time, and going with buddies in a Halloween-spirity neighborhood was a big part of the fun.  Three little kids saying trick-or-treat is pretty much the cutest.  This month we also got a visit from L&P and C&A, packed and packed, and enjoyed some beautiful late Fall weather.

Humor
Humor is clearly pretty mysterious to kids.  Most jokes (except physical ones) are completely over their heads, so it's particularly interesting to see what they think a joke is.  Ronan's first pass at this was to say something, and then take it back and say he was only joking.  This backfired the day he told me his seatbelt wasn't on (while we were driving) and I had to find a way to pull over on a crowded street, only to find when I got back to his carseat that it was fully buckled.  He hasn't tried that one again!  His newest iteration at humor is nonsense.  From this evening:

"Do you know what is very funny?  I have a joke for you.

Oh dread, the baker took my ted.

Here's another funny joke: Oh chud, the baker took my grunt!

I know another one too!  When the baker ate a rabbit, a flashlight came out of a dinosaur.

And this is pretty funny.  When a cat went out its cat flap, it started to rain in the house!"

I admit, he did get us to laugh!

Phases

So everyone knows THAT kids go through phases.  I even expected the "why" phase, and I was reassured that the sudden fear of death of two months ago was pretty age typical too.  But a superhero phase?  I'm pretty sure that wasn't covered in Erikson!  All the boys at school are big into superheroes right now, and being strong, and being the good guys (or sometimes the bad guys).  Ronan has never seen a superhero show or book, but he still play acts spiderman, superman, and wonder woman on a regular basis.  

Look how I can fly!

Superhero cape, wristlets, belt!

This fascination with power and heroism has been stoked by watching "How to train your dragon" as a family a few weeks ago.  For days all he wanted to do was to have me play "Toothless" while he played "Hiccup" and gave instructions in his deep powerful voice.

He is fascinated by dragons and vikings, but somewhere along the way he got it into his head that viking helmets are "head thorns" and the term stuck.  Naturally we got him his own pair of head thorns for his birthday.

Pictures:
The end of the 3.5 year album and the start of a year 4 one!

Quotes:

Mom, I want you to make up a story that's true.

Nate, do you wanna come down to the basement and see all the sharp tools and play with them?

[On the topic of fish sticks]
You know, it turns out that these are *quite* yummy.

D [re Ro]: We are dealing with an intransigence.
R: You mean an imPOOPigence!


A: We’re going to a really cool place!
R: Oooh, is it a science museum?

R:  I know something you don’t know.
D:  Sure, I bet you know a lot of things I don’t know.  You’re learning so much all the time!  Do you want to teach me something that I don’t know?
R:  Yes.  Rain is a solvent for soap.
D:  Wow!  I hadn’t thought about it before, but I think you must be right.  How did you know that!?
R:  I figured it out with my detective brain!