Not Even Spider-Man Can Stop My Kid
I’m not even sure where to start this one because it’s a bit emotional and funny all in one event.
My son’s birthday party is going to be in a couple of weeks. I can remember last year, we threw him an Ernie birthday party and he loved it. I asked him what kind of party he wanted this year and he immediately answered “MarioKart!” with joy.
What?!?! How do you go from Ernie to MarioKart in less than a year?
On one hand it’s cool because I get to goof around with a bunch of video game stuff. On the other, I want my little boy back!!!
That brings me to our most recent event.
My son was just invited to his first “drop off your kid and leave” birthday party. He is 3 years old but soon to be 4.
You can forget about the fact that the party was just across the street at a neighbor’s house because it could have been on the moon for all I cared. The point is that my little man is growing up, and quickly!
The neighbor’s kid was turning 5 and was having a Spider-Man themed party, with a special visit from Spider-Man himself (very popular right now, the character shows up and runs games and stuff).
My son does NOT like people in costumes, so upon hearing this, I feared the worst.
Sure enough, I got a phone call from the neighbor about 30 minutes in, asking if I could come over and comfort my son, who was freaked out by Spider-Man. After some calming words to my delirious concerned wife, I ran over to hang out.
I tried to explain to my son that it was just a guy in a costume and that he had nothing to be scared of. Obviously that didn’t work, so we came to the agreement that if I went home and got his Spider-Man costume, he would stay at the party and take part in the games.
Excited to feel needed again, I raced across the street, Spidey suit in hand. Daddy saves the day!!
It took a few minutes for him to rejoin the party and he clung to me for another 10 like a shirt that had gone through the dryer without a Bounce sheet (you know what I mean, shut it).
Eventually I felt comfortable enough to leave him but figured he wouldn’t take part in anything until Spidey was gone.
Well don’t you know it, sometimes when left to fend for themselves, kids rise above the odds and make you the proudest parents in the world.
Here’s the photo I got from the neighbors, 15 minutes after I had left.
Very proud Dad upon seeing this picture. Almost as if I had said or done something to ease his mind about being at the party. Now if he would please stop growing for a couple years, I would very much appreciate it!!
Is there a moment you realized that you were losing your toddler to boy/girlhood? Share it with me in the comments so I can feel better about losing mine 🙂
Cheers!!
So cute! My boy showed me how grown up he was getting this week by going on vacation without me!
What?! I’m sooo not ready for that yet!
that’s awesome. Amazing how much they can handle isn’t it?
Someday’s they show it, then the next they’re crying for mommy and daddy, gotta love it!
Kids are great!!! All he needed was to make sure his super hero wasn’t to far away 🙂 Great bloggin and hope u don’t throw in the towel when
u make it as a writer 😉
LOL, thanks Liz! Long way to go for the writer thing, if ever. Fingers crossed though!
Awww. What a sweetie! It’s true what they say, the days are long but the years are short. I find myself wishing I could hit pause once in a while, too.
Still searching for the pause button…..I know I set it down somewhere!
Goosebumps. that is adorable. my daughter is 3 and a few months ago we went with hubs for a drive. She asked where we were going. He said “I need to pick up some PRINTS” she said ” a Prince? to marry me?” She thinks she is a princess and we were getting her her prince charming. I instantly pictured hubs sitting on the porch with a shot gun waiting for her to get home from a date 14 years from now lol
Don’t be silly, in 14 years we will all have either phasers or light sabers to deal with the boyfriends!!
I had chills reading your post. I totally get the feeling.
We just returned from Cancun. The resort we stayed at had an Aqua Park for younger children. Last summer my 2 year old was petrified of the pool. Like to the point she’d have full on anxiety attacks. I feared the worst. Wouldn’t you know it at the Aqua Park she was trotting around by her big 2.5 year old self, going down water slides and having a blast. It was right then I realized she’s not just my baby anymore, she’s blossoming into a little girl.
Oh man, we had the same experience with the lake at the cottage last year. One minute my son is petrified, the next he’s telling me to stop following him around because he knows how to do it!!
Jealous of Cancun btw!
I love the picture. Kids do grow and change so quickly it is hard to keep up some days. Have a great MarioKart party.
Aw! That is really sweet. It is so hard to see them grow up so fast. Every time DS6 chooses YTV over Disney Jr I feel a little tear 🙁
Chris…that’s a great story! Good daddying. And by the way, I would love to have a Mario Kart party too. That sounds awesome.
Thanks Tommy! Truth is, I might be more excited about the party than he is, lol.
Love it! You’re totally right, sometimes when you leave the kids to fend for themselves they do better than you ever expected. I used to take our oldest boy to football practises and he’s hide behind my leg – for years this went on. We switched him to Cub Scouts and I started simply dropping him off. And in a few short weeks he was racing in, confidence boosted because he’d done it on his own.
What a brave young man! You must be proud.
It is so normal for kids to be freaked out by adults in character costumes…happens ALL the time at Disneyland. I don’t quite understand it, but I guess it is really that they are “larger than life” to the kids?
I think I traced it back to a creepy Easter Bunny in my next post. It is funny though, how different kids have totally different reactions to it. My daughter is almost annoyingly attached to the costumed people and my son is vehemently against it, lol!
Heartwarming! The very first time a kid tells you, point blank, that they don’t need you anymore for something or other, it’s crushing. They just want to get dressed on their own, and meanwhile you’re in the washroom holding back tears lol. Good on you – your son wouldn’t have been able to reach the point of taking that picture without your support that day!