The 'Super Happy Super Hero'

A couple of nights ago, Declan saw a video of a girl talking about the solar system while making a mobile online. Afterwards, he followed me through the house as I tried to make dinner and do other things: "I want to make a mobile and talk to you about the planets, mama."

We have around a dozen plastic or cardboard solar systems, most of them sold as parts of cheap mobiles, but Declan has never been interested in seeing them hung up. He likes to hold the planets in his hands. He often holds up planet after planet in front of him, whooshing one after the other up to the bridge of his nose, then rolling one past one eye, the next one past the other, like he's flying through the solar system.

I've long since thrown most of the mobile arms and accessories away, so we improvised by using a few long fuzzy pipe cleaners that I got at the craft store a few weeks back, resulting in a fuzzy clown spider-ish planet mobile.

I struggled to get a small hook into the wall so we could hang it, and dropped the thing three times in the process.

"Oh, this is an emotional decision," Declan said.

Finally, the mobile was hung from the slanted wall of the dormer, right at his level so he could spin it himself.

"These planets are not emotional," he said, as he spun them around.

"Do you remember what emotions are, Declan?" I asked him.

"What is it?"

"All of the different feelings you can have, like happy, sad, angry..."

"Happy's like this," he modeled for me:
"What's angry look like?" I asked
"How about sad?"
"Frustrated..?"
"What about overjoyed?"
"What's that?"
"That's when you're super, extra happy."
"Like, Declan could be a super happy super hero in space," he said.
"Yes, just like that."