"I'm Your Father! It is Useless to Resist!"

I'm beginning to have an appreciation for poor Darth Vader's frustration in getting his kids to heed his advice...

I have to fight my natural tendency to dictate the family Halloween agenda. I've always loved the creative aspect of the holiday and I cringe every time I seen an uninspired power ranger or Toy Story Woody. "My kids will never do that," I say through clenched teeth. "They will do something brilliant. Unique. Something exceptional!" But I've learned that kids don't want exceptional. They don't want unique. They want the common, the tried-and-true, the safe. I feel like weeping. But I will be strong and if my kids want to be Ariel or Lightning McQueen I will set aside my wounded elitist pride and let them be... common.

The process of nailing down this year's Halloween costumes has taken us through a number of intermediate destinations. We were going to be sharks at one point. (Lots of potential there, I thought!) Spiders were in the running for a while. (Yeah!  We could get creative with spiders!) But we seem to have settled now on a rebellious alliance...complete with injection-mold plastic masks and mass-produced faux wigs. I will submit to it, though the Force within me is somewhat disturbed. As if millions of sparks of creativity suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...

Hey you on the right!  Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?

Thou shall not _________.

N was lollygagging before church today, playing with his toys and not getting dressed. He got a sharp rebuke from his Dad which sent him crying to his Mom. "But Mommy," he piously wept to Stacy, a snotty mess of tears, "Daddy's making me work on the Sabbath which is supposed to be a day of rest!"

I wonder if he thinks any other commandments were infringed upon this morning...

When One Life to Live Is Just Not Enough

Last week I noted N's willingness to take on the burden of playing all roles in a cut-throat game of Monopoly^®. This morning I came into the living room to find that, having conquered Monopoly, he has moved on to mastering Life^® itself. Not content with a solitary life experience, and impatient with any concept of reincarnation, N prefers to live all his lives in parallel, simultaneously.