Blast Off!

BJ's fascination with rockets, astronomy, and all things planetary has continued to be quite strong, which has been lots of fun. (And I confess that it has finally given me incentive to learn the order of all the planets in the solar system -- it was learn 'em or be put to shame by my 4 year old!) Yesterday, he wanted to make a rocket, complete with flame decorations, so we put something together with construction paper and a paper towel tube. Ah, the joy of kids' arts and crafts!

Today at his second swim class, he was especially excited to do "blast-offs," which he'd heard about when BB reported on her own swim class yesterday. (Which went very well, I'm pleased to say.) The swim coach had the kids hang on to the poolside with their hands, get into a crouch with their feet against the wall, then do a count down to "blast off" by pushing off the wall while Mom swirled them around the pool. BB wasn't all that pleased by the activity -- until the moment when she realized, and announced, that her brother would love this! And as soon as I confirmed that to be the case, she loved it too. So interesting to see that dynamic in action.

As one might expect, BJ has been taking his rocket to visit all the planets (in order, naturally) and he's clearly been influenced by the planetarium show that he went to with S and my dad several months ago. According to S's report, in that show the plot line seemed to be "Oh, here's a neat planet! Oh, we better leave because it is too dangerous/too hot/too cold... Oh, here's another neat planet! Whoops, gotta get outta here, because it's too dangerous/too hot/too cold...."

So as a result, I get to hear BJ's narrative several times a day, going something like this: "Here we are at Mercury! Oops, better go, it's too hot! Here we are at Venus! Now we have to go, it's too cloudy...." Earth is apparently fine (thank goodness) but since there are other planets to see, we head out of there quickly as well. Mars is too dusty, Jupiter too stormy, Saturn too ring-y, Uranus too sideways. And then my favorite: "Here we are at Neptune! But we have to go, because it's too beautiful!"

From there, we visit Pluto (too far away, or too small, depending) and then back to Earth. Watching BJ play, one would deduce that it's great fun to blast off, again and again, but it's always good to get back home. Not a bad life lesson, that.