Jack's Younger Brother's Fantastical Reality

On Saturday afternoon, Noah and I saw the animated movie, "Bolt". It is about a television-star dog, who doesn't know that all his TV super powers are pretend (like his Super Bark which causes the bad guys to retreat). So, this movie, while an excellent one, didn't quite make sense for Noah--since Noah lives in his own make-believe world. For our eldest child, pretend and reality closely intertwine.

For example, Noah has his older brother Jack, who is nine-years-old, whose birthday is after Noah's, who used to be called Brody Braeden, but his name was changed to Jack Brody Braeden after Noah's babysitter's younger brother, Jack, came over. When asked why Jack doesn't have our last name, Noah (WAY too quickly) said, "He does, he has four names--Jack Brody Braeden Hutchins." On Saturday night, our friends asked Noah, "Where's Jack?" and he explained Jack was in the shower (and previously he had been on the school bus, where Jack spends a majority of his time). Last week, Noah and Colton were in the backyard calling for Jack over the fence to come home and help them kill a bee, because, "Jack's shoes are really a lot bigger than ours."

Then, there's Noah's dog, Sketcher, who lives in our backyard. "He's 10-years-old, so he's really tall" (because to Noah, the older you are, the taller you are). When we are in the backyard, Sketcher is playing in someone else's backyard (he's so shy, that Sketcher).

I completely enjoy Noah's belief of reality. In my world, I have a personal chef, maid, and a 44-year old massage therapist, who's REALLY, REALLY tall.

Ian likes to pretend Mommy's house shoes do NOT look like elf shoes.

And for posterity sake, here's a video that only a mommy (or daddy, grandparents or JerJer) could love. With all certainty, the rest of you will flee quickly, but, if you wish, take a gander while you wait for American Idol to begin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT_FGVi8tBk