Oh dear. Awake at 12:30am. Peanut butter cookie, I blame you. I know it doesn’t sound terribly late, but I am a lady that likes her sleep, and mornings are coming earlier and earlier these days. Which brings me to an undeniable truth. Marcus seems to have outgrown his naps. I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, but I was hoping it would happen when he’d grown up and gone off to college. I am a spoiled woman. My two kids nap for a solid two hours at the same time every day. Unfortunately, while the naps are still happening, Marcus’s nighttime sleeps are getting shorter on both ends, and I realize that I have a choice to make. Forgo the two hour sanity break during the day, or be prepared to start my day at 5am. Sadness.
Marcus is such funny kid. Lately he has a penchant for leaving the house in costume. His latest preference is to be Spiderman. He won’t do pyjama day at school, but give him the opportunity to be a superhero, he’s going to take it. Home Depot, the grocery store, the library, all in disguise as a mysterious crime-fighting superhero. So today we went to one of our favourite parks in Nanaimo, and he was, of course, dressed up. I had an extra kidlet with me so I let him out of the van and sent him onto the playground while I collected the little ladies from the van. I could hear him singing his theme song from the top of the climbing web. He knows the entire classic Spiderman theme. But something was different. I could hear a chorus that sounded familiar... “nananananananana BATMAAAAAAAN.” There, at the top of the web, Marcus had met his kindred spirit. Spiderman had somehow met up with a fully-costumed Batman, right down to the black boots and cape. The two superheroes had a great time playing together. I don’t think they ever asked each other’s real names—they spent the entire time calling each other Spiderman and Batman. Marcus was in heaven. That happy coincidence is going to reaffirm his love for that park for all time. I was just glad to not be the only parent that lets my kid be in costume wherever he goes. It's not so bad now that his costumes all fit him, but I sure got some looks last summer when I brought him to the ball field to watch Daddy play ball and he was dressed in a threadbare jack-o-lantern costume that was at least two sizes too small.
Skyler is thankfully not yet leaving the house in costume, although it’s a big issue if I want her to put anything on her feet besides crocs. Although I tend to let my kids wear whatever clothes they choose, I insist on venue-appropriate footwear. Running shoes at the park, no negotiations. Bark mulch in the crocs is never a good thing. I saw a side of her tonight that I hadn’t yet seen. We were watching the Neverending Story. The kids watched it last night and were completely fine, but tonight when it started, she was really paying attention. There’s a part right at the beginning where some bullies toss the protagonist into a garbage dumpster. She was watching intently, and as the boy got tossed in, she started saying, “no, no, no, NO, NOOOO,” and she burst into tears. Super upset. At first I thought it must be something else, maybe she was hurt or something as she seemed really panicked, but I calmed her down a bit and she said, “That’s not nice,” with her little lip curled out. I teared up. I was so touched with her empathy for the character, but even more so, I identified with her. Because my little girl was sharing in an emotion that often guides my life: righteous indignation. That deeply ingrained sense of the need for fairness. And she was pissed off at the bad guys. AND she was saying it out loud, expressing it, not just bottling it up or passively accepting it. Those boys were NOT NICE and she wanted badly to tell them about it. That’s my girl.
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