I recently saw a little boy dressed in a superman T-shirt that was doing his best to act Super Manly. He was oh so very cute! His hair was coaxed into a little Mohawk and he had the cutest dimples. I’m guessing he was about 2 years old. His mom told me that he loves dressing up like superheroes.
I began to reminisce about when my own son, now in his twenties, used to love to dress up like all kinds of fictitious characters. He always wanted to dress exactly like the character that he was emulating right down to the tiniest detail. He seemed to even notice features that most of us overlooked. He could tell you what color belt superman wore and which side his hair was parted on. He wasn’t satisfied until he had the costume perfect.
Now, he is a grown man living in a much more serious world. Sometimes I long to wrap my arms around that little boy again, smell his soft curly hair and touch that smooth whiskerless face. It was a sweet time of innocence.
My son liked watching the old school cartoons. Bugs Bunny was one of his all time favorites. One day while I was in the kitchen preparing dinner, I heard his little voice behind me saying, “What’s up doc?” I turned around to see my 2-year-old little boy leaning on one elbow against the cabinets with his legs crossed at the ankles in true Bugs Bunny fashion. Of course, he was dressed up just like Bugs Bunny. The problem …….. Bugs Bunny only wears gloves as he so clearly pointed out to me after I asked him where his clothes were.
How in the world do you argue with that? I suggested that Bugs Bunny at least wore underwear. But he wouldn’t buy it. He argued that Bugs Bunny only wore gloves and true to form, my son was only wearing a pair of my gray leather gloves. I didn’t have white ones so he had to make do with the gray ones. It was all I could do to keep a straight face and try to reason with him as to why he should at least add some underwear to the costume. I don’t remember exactly how I managed to get him a little more appropriately covered but he did eventually agree to cover up a little in case company dropped by.
Having a sense of humor and a great imagination are what makes for delightful memories. Parenting has it challenges for sure but stories like this that can still make you chuckle more that 20 years later make it all worth it.
