Jamie at four and three-quarters

Lately Jamie has been really getting into different topics. We get books from the library, he plays games about them for days, he builds things out of Legos and draws pictures to go with whatever theme is at hand. Recent examples include beavers, astronauts, planets, natural disasters, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere, and nuclear meltdowns, Chernobyl in particular (and yes, we did find a children's book about nuclear meltdowns. who knew??). For the past week or so he has been super interested in the Titanic. It just so happens that there is a big Titanic museum in Pigeon Forge, about 45 minutes from us, so on Saturday I decided to take the boys there (Thomas was busy writing). Jamie LOVED it. There were many areas where I'd have liked more time but he wasn't interested in lingering; however, anywhere that was remotely hands-on, he was in heaven. He loved the models of the ship, the "iceberg" and frigid water we got to feel, steering at the helm, seeing the grand staircase and the recreated third-class and first-class rooms, practicing Morse code, and playing in the small children's area. At the beginning we got boarding passes with actual passengers' names, and at the end we found out our fate -- we both survived, phew. If Thomas had come, I doubt he'd have been so lucky. Jamie spent all day yesterday building the Titanic out of Legos and then "sinking" it. It was awesome to be able to bring one of his current obsessions to life.
I forgot my camera but they didn't allow pictures anyway.

Every day at almost every meal, Jamie finishes his food and announces, "I'm still hungry." And every time I wonder how that can be possible, he explains, very matter-of-factly, "I'm a hobbit!"

We recently watched Despicable Me for the first time. Jamie loved it and talked about it for days (we loved it too!). This weekend we watched Willy Wonka, and he absolutely loved it as well, even the super bizarro parts. It had been a really long time since I'd seen the whole thing, and wow is that a trippy movie. I'm just going to leave this video here...

Jamie has requested Eloise for a bedtime story almost nightly for the last couple weeks. He often wants to play that I am Eloise, he is Weenie, and Jacob is Skipperdee. We've put holds on the other Eloise books at the library and he is very excited to get them.

For the past month or two, Jamie's favorite things to do are draw and color. He especially loves to draw Iron Man and Darth Vader and scenes from books he likes. Some examples:

top: Jamie in a bomb squad detonator suit / Iron Man
bottom: a page from his Weasels book / Darth Vader / a submarine with whipnose fish and deep sea spider underneath it

left column: a rabbit robot and a Gamorrean guard / Baron Zemo / more Gamorrean guards (Thomas helped with the one on the right)
center: another Iron Man
right: he's getting really good at coloring in the lines / a very creative take on Charlotte, Wilbur, and Templeton

Jamie's favorite things right now are Star Wars, dinosaurs, super heroes (especially Batman, Superman, Captain America, and Iron Man), Ninja Turtles, the Hobbit, Legos, reading, coloring, and eating. :)