It Was Almost a Banner Day for Me

It began like any other trip to the bookstore.  There were words of encouragement and threats of consequences.  We shared a pastry and had something warm to drink.  They behaved like I asked them and used their inside voices.  There were pee-pee dances and occasional wanderings.  It was like any other trip.

Then Thing 1 picked out a book that wasn't his typical fare of dinosaurs or cartoon characters.  It was Star Wars, and the force was suddenly strong in my boy.  We discussed R2D2 and Yoda, and I explained the difference between myself and a Wookie through an awkward charade which included a public display of body hair.  We were bonding.

I started planning our evening.  We would only watch one movie a night, no reason to rush it.  Pace this moment, I thought.  Finish his training, I will.

It was set in stone, or carbonite as the case may be.  Things were moving along swimmingly. We stood in line, me taking in the moment and the boys happy to be getting stuff.  It was special.  I placed my books on the counter and turned to the boys for theirs.  Elmo for Thing 2, and my oldest boy, he had switched out Star Wars for yet another dinosaur book.

"What happened?" I asked as I looked around frantically for the Star Wars book.

"I like dinosaurs better," he answered, smiling.

Damn, I thought, that's bullshit.

Comments

[Backpacking Dad]

I read an article/blog a while ago that discussed the proper order in which to expose new Star Wars devotees. Watching the prequels first ruins the big surprise at the end of Empire, but watching the original trilogy first, as we all did, makes the experience a downer in the end, because Ep. III is so dark. It might be sacrilege to suggest any ordering other than IV-VI, I-III, but he went ahead and did it anyway, and I think I'm a big fan of it:

A New Hope; Empire; Prequels I-III, then Jedi. Preserves the big surprise and also preserves the overall story as being about the redemption of Vader.

[Ryan]

I like Backpacking Dad's suggestion about movie order...that makes a lot of sense, especially not spoiling the surprise in TESB.

We've decided to wait until our son is 4 to fully expose him to Star Wars (he already knows who Darth Vader is, but only through association with themed dinnerware, a toy mask I have, stuff like that. No actual knowledge of the character himself). I'm anxiously awaiting the day...I have about 3.5 months to go. I'm excited.

[TwoBusy]

I never realized Chewie was a lefty.

[whiffleboy]

How'd they talk Joe Torre into putting on the Leia getup?

[George Romaka]

MY 2 year old son will take anything long and skinny (stop thinking, perverts), liek a straw or pencil, and wave it around like a lightsaber, making swooshing sounds.

My 6 year old daughter, for the past 2 Halloweens, was Leia (Ep. IV) and a padawan learner. I was Keoki Akamor, Jedi Knight. My wife made the costumes.

I love my family.

May the force be with you.

[creative-type dad]

Wow - if princess Leia and Chewy did that at all baseball games, I would totally start going.

[MammaLoves]

Just buy Lego Star Wars for whatever game system you have. They'll be hooked immediately. I promise.

[Holmes]

Oof, what a downer.