Superheroes

4 has been a very exhausting age.  It's an age of tantrums, arguments, fighting us on every single thing possible, and endless energy.  But I have to say, and I think Andy will agree, this is my FAVORITE age so far.  I love 4.  The older Jack gets the more he becomes his own person.  And if I had to pick one thing that he is obsessed with more than anything in the world - it's superheroes.  He loves them.  Loves playing superheroes, loves dressing like them, loves watching any and all superhero cartoons.  It's nonstop.  So here is a little slice of Jack's superhero obsession.  First, there was his birthday party which had to have Spiderman as the central theme.

This is in the parking lot for the Secret City festival.  Spiderman has been the primary focus of his obsession for a while now.

Until he saw Batman.  Jack loves Batman as well and really wants to love Green Arrow (since Uncle John recommended it) but there isn't as much Green Arrow stuff to buy out there.  Jack asked me for this $20 Batman cape so instead I bought a $7 tshirt at Walmart and cut it into a cape shape.  It's been a pretty big hit so far.

No one is more pumped about Jack's obsession than my brother.  I think since John has daughters, he worried he won't be able to pass down his love (ie infatuation) with comic books to anyone else.  John has even gone so far as to send me a list of movies in the proper order of Marvel and DC characters that I should know about since Jack is into these guys now.  It has been pretty fun, I will admit.  Mostly it's fun talking to John and listening to how excited he gets when discussing the story line of a comic book character.  It's the same way Lizzi gets when you ask her about anything old and from Greece.

Mixing it up here.

Yes, sometimes we sleep in the glove.

Hat, sunglasses, glove, shirt, shoes, and I'm pretty sure underwear.  All have a theme.

When it's time to have a balloon animal made, can you guess what Jack requests?

To cap all this off, I noticed last week at the Zoo they were advertising a Superhero weekend!   Iron Man and Captain America would be there and if your kid comes dressed in costume, he gets in free!  I LOVED THIS!!!!  And so did Jack :)

Batman ready to take on the bad guys.  When we were driving there, Jack wanted to know why Batman and Hulk and Thor couldn't come to the Zoo too.  I had to explain that this was their day off and they had other arrangements.  He seemed ok with this response.

Once again, hats off to the zoo.  As children moved through the line to meet the superheroes, they had little stations set up with tasks for the kids to complete - all going towards their "Superhero Certification."  Brilliant if you ask me.  This made the wait fly by for Jack.

He would not take off his mask until after he saw Captain America.  He didn't want him to think he wasn't Batman. :)

Meeting his hero :)  I was PUMPED it was Captain America.  Iron Man is ok but I don't really care for his arrogance and Jack barely knows who he is.  But Jack LOVES Captain America and couldn't wait to give him a hug and a high five.  Can you think of a better superhero for the kid of a history teacher to admire?  I cannot.  I had hopes of Lucy getting her picture taken with them as well but when Jack went running to them, she freaked out and panicked, yelling, "Jack! Jack!"  I think she thought they were gonna hurt him.  Bless her heart. :)

When it was finished, he did his last "task" (thanks to the help of his trusty sidekick Rachel.)

He's official :)   I didn't realize that each certificate had different superheroes sign it so I just grabbed the first one I saw.  Hope he doesn't mind Wonder Woman's signature...

 His smile could not be wider.  This was, hands down, one of my favorite moments from this summer and a perfect way to close it out.  What better way to send your kid off to school next week than with a face to face with his hero.  Although the fighting aspect of superheroes is not my favorite, I guess there are worse things for him to idolize.  And how can you fault a kid for always wanting to cheer for the good guys?  Not bad at all :)