Boys and Their Toys

Aiden has recently been introduced to a modern classic - Star Wars. He LOVES it. It cracks me up that it came out 30 years before he was born. Some might say that 3 is too young for Star Wars, but my mom took me to see Return of the Jedi when I was 3 (of course, this is when it was actually at the theater...the first time....)

Anyway, during our last visit to Disneyland - before the rain hit - Daddy took Aiden on Autotopia and I decided to do some shopping. I stumbled upon a real, live, Lightsaber at the Star Wars store in Tomorrowland. Of course, I HAD to buy it. You may think I'm crazy, putting something like that in the hands of an overactive 3 year-old, but...I have boys. My philosophy is this - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Rather than visualize all the breakables he would knock over with it, I chose to think about the look of absolute joy that would appear on his little face when I presented it to him.

I was not disappointed.

He now plays with his Lightsaber (which he calls his "quarter" and no, I have absolutely no idea why), all the time. He slays invisible monsters and tells me that he's "Skywalker"! He even does these little tucks and rolls and acts like he's really in a sword-fight. It's hysterical to watch, and one of these days I'll record it.

So, while he may have knocked a few things over, whacked the wall a time or two and almost impaled his little brother (who incidentally also loves to play with the "quarter" and needs one of his own), I've sparked his boyish imagination, and opened up whole new worlds of play-time.

What's a few broken knick-knacks compared to that?