The Star Wars Invasion

We are in the midst of a full blown obsession with Star Wars.  Well, Jack is.  Casey follows along a little bit.  I've always liked the original Star Wars movies, so I have no problem watching them over and over again.  Especially when you watch them with Jack...I tend to miss a lot while I'm answering his questions. 

It seems like there has been a resurgence of Star Wars lately.  A lot of Jack's friends got light sabers for Christmas and I didn't understand why all the renewed interest.  But I've since realized that there is a new Star Wars animated show and it's also the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back.  And there's probably something about 4 and 5 year old boys that just makes them like Star Wars.

Strangely, Jack's new interest started on New Year's Day.  We were watching the Rose Bowl Parade and there were some Storm Troopers marching across the TV screen.  Jack wanted to know who they were and what they did so I told him there was a movie called Star Wars.  Since he's so interested in space and stars, this piqued his interest and he asked if he could watch the movie. 

I thought he might be too young to watch the movies but I bought Episode IV (the first one) and played it one day.  He loved it.  Upon first viewing, he wasn't as much concerned about the plot but he loved all the creatures and good guys vs. bad guys theme and the fighting and the light sabers.  He gets that it's not real and what's not to love about the fantastic feat of imagination needed to create these movies.  He thinks Darth Vader is funny in his costume and the Storm Troopers are funny.  And he doesn't get the love story or really care.   

Then, my sister sent Jack some Star Wars Legos for Valentine's Day.  And Jack couldn't have been happier.  It was a merge of his two favorite things at the moment - Legos and Star Wars.  He got the good guys and was begging and begging for some bad guys so he could set up a proper scene with the Legos.  I finally got him some as a gift on Casey's birthday.

So, now we have Legos and we've watched the original movies.  The kids go around the house singing the Darth Vader theme.  They've turned cardboard boxes into starfighters and police helmets into Jedi helmets.  Casey even has a hilarious impression of Chewy.  Jack has turned most of his Legos into spacecraft and space stations and death stars.  Today he realized he could turn one of his Lego sets into a great hover craft like Luke flies in the first movie.

On Saturday, we went to Target.  I let the kids browse the toy aisles and when Jack got to the Star Wars aisle, he said, "Mommy, I got the shakes and shivers when I saw the Star Wars toys."  And if that didn't make me want to buy him whatever Star Wars toys he wanted, I don't know what would.  But I didn't because he didn't ask...because I told them we weren't getting any toys and if they didn't whine they would get a special treat.  (I took them to a Cupcake Truck.  Like an ice cream cup, but with cupcakes!)

So far, this has been my favorite interest of Jack's.  We've been through cars, dinosaurs and trains (and more) but there's a little bit of a Star Wars dork in me that loves being Mom to a boy who loves Star Wars.