Thursday, February 14, 2008

Where Did The Time Go?

It’s funny how kids personalities change and develop over the years.

This post by Mimi Smartypants reminded me of a time in #3 son’s childhood that I had totally forgotten about.

From the time he could watch TV or videos, or understand being read to, he ALWAYS identified with the bad guy. Always.

We had at least three Darth Vadar Birthday parties, and I know he was Darth Vadar at Halloween at least four times. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to get black icing stains out of a table cloth?)

He always wanted to wear black. If we played a game, he wanted the black token, if there was a choice that involved color, black was it.

If a new film came out, he would come home raving about the villain.

I can’t really say when that phased out. I wish I had access to our pictures from back then. (lost in the divorce) I would say at about 8 or 9 it just kind of faded away.

Today he doesn’t show any predisposition towards bad guys. His favorite color is burnt orange, (Hook ‘Em Horns), and he thinks Goth kids are gross.

Go figure?

It’s funny how I didn’t remember all of that until I read that post. Sometimes daily life just gets in the way of things, and all of the sudden they've grown up.

There is a very clear memory I have of him during that phase. I was in the living room running lines with Dorinda for The Glass Menagerie, which would mean he was a few weeks shy of his fourth birthday. It is a formal living room, so it is a bit separated from the rest of the house. Every few minutes he would walk back and forth in front of the door, in full Darth Vader regalia. Light saber, cape, and of course, the Darth Vader voice changing mask.

Good times.

He will be 14 this April, he has never made less than "A" in his life, and will be shooting baskets when I get home from work.


Somedays, the glass is half full.

10 comments:

Batocchio said...

Haha. Neat.

I did Vader twice as a kid for Halloween. I had one of the better cheap kid costumes, that showed his chest buttons versus the big splash of his face - remember those ones? Ugh. Never had the voice changer. And I did the Grim Reaper maybe 3-4 times.

It really is amazing both how little kids can change and how drastically they can.

Batocchio said...

Oh, speaking of Vader's voice, my sound teacher in grad school did the dialogue mix for Star Wars. He didn't directly do Vader's voice, though, but boy, that man was a friggin' marvel.

somewaterytart said...

Look at that hair!

Brave Sir Robin said...

Look at that hair!

I know!!!

Bitty said...

It sounds like the glass is considerably fuller than half!

Anonymous said...

i won't go into my star wars tattoos or my plans for more...or how it is amusing that your vader loving kid has hair rivaled only by the ever emo anakin skywalker...i only offer this:

is it wrong that i covet his voice changing mask and light saber? i don't even have those and i am almost 28!

ahh...the memories...

Brave Sir Robin said...

is it wrong that i covet his voice changing mask and light saber? i don't even have those and i am almost 28!

No, not wrong at all!

He was the most stylish 3 year old on the block.

Anonymous said...

still...

*jealous*

Jennifer said...

You made me remember my daughter's childhood phase at around that age.

With her it was bodies.

What's inside?

How do they work?

All the elementary-level body books...

That Christmas Eve that I was up till 1:00 a.m. assembling a life-sized cardboard skeleton...

*Smile*

Brave Sir Robin said...

That Christmas Eve that I was up till 1:00 a.m. assembling a life-sized cardboard skeleton...

HA! You've got me there. A bicycle yes, a skeleton, no.

:)