I believe that, lacking a vice, such as drinking or smoking “the pot,” that everyone needs an obsession. I’m all for healthy obsessions then, such as being a “leg man” (I’m not, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to explain my personal proclivities here), or ordering sweet tea no matter how high-brow the restaurant. I mean, it’s your life and you should be able to obsess over whatever healthy thing you want to obsess over without being looked down upon by those who like to think themselves above such things, but who in real life are probably wearing panties under their business suits (referring to men of course here).

I’ve mentioned previously (here) about how children too will grab hold of something and make it their own and how, as an adult, one should be careful what wonderful childhood memory one shares with their kids lest that childhood memory be invoked by the child, owned and then tragically morphed into something you can’t stand any longer.

It all started with Halloween last year when MLI wanted to be Spiderman. So he got a cheap little polyester/silky feeling costume that for months afterward, he couldn’t put down. About three weeks ago, CareerMom bought him a Superman cape, I assume in hopes that it would wean him from the raggy, hole-ridden Spiderman costume. The Superman cape, at least, elicits comments like, “How cute” from passers-by rather than the looks of pity we normally got from other couples when he was out in public with the Spiderman costume.

I mentioned in my last post that we’ve been having some behavioral problems lately with MLI, and in truth, many of the fits he throws are over our telling him when he can and cannot wear his costumes. So basically, I’ve been planning a “Oh honey, the washing machine completely destroyed your Spiderman costume” talk with him in hopes that we’ll just be left with the Superman cape.

But that would be too simple, wouldn’t it?

I worked from home yesterday and CareerMom took the day off to take MLI to the Atlanta Aquarium with his cousin and her mom. They got home about 3 p.m. I was relaxing in my chair listening to some guy from my office make a fool out of himself on a conference call when I heard the garage door open and within seconds, little feet tromping up the stairs and into my study.

And what to my wondering eyes did appear? But BATMAN-OH dear Lord, please get me a beer!  It seems CareerMom’s sister thought it’d be “cute” to get him a full Batman outfit complete with tiny gloves and a bat belt. Kill me now!

So we now have Spiderman, Superman and Batman costumes to contend with and as expected, there was a fit pitched this morning when I made him take it off and get dressed for daycare at which point I had to get out the “stern daddy voice” and evoke a stare down which I wasn’t sure I was going to win for a minute there.

I foresee setting aside an hour each night for costume-wearing, but I also see a battle each night when it’s time to take it off. Regardless, keep an eye out for the next release of Spiderman comic books. I do believe Spiderman is going to come to a final, watery end sometime this weekend for sure!