Childhood obsessions

My son is a kid who really gets excited about things. He has great passion and commitment when something catches his attention. When he was 2 I tried and tried to find him a Halloween costume. He told me he liked this dog costume we saw at Target. When we got it home, it made him cry. We talked for weeks about what he wanted to wear for trick or treating. He would get an idea but when we looked at costumes, he got really nervous. Then my sister found this costume:


I was afraid that he would take one look and burst into tears. But he tried it on and wore at least the jacket almost everyday for the next 6 months. Unfortunately I never took a picture of the snow boots he obsessed over and often wore with this jacket. The firefighter costume was replaced as his obsession turned to trains. While staying with my mom and dad he acquired this outfit:

Now subtract the train around his waist and you can see what Dylan wore everyday for 2 years. I had to replace the hat because it shrunk when I tried to wash it (I learned to hand wash the new one in Woolite) and I bought several pair of overalls so that there would always be a pair to wear. He learned everything that a 3 year old could possibly learn about trains and was heartbroken when someone would ask him if he was the conductor because he was obviously dressed as an engineer. Last Halloween he chose this costume:
I wondered exactly how I was going to allow him to express himself while still remaining within certain boundaries of normal clothing if he was going to insist on dressing like a pirate every day(But I don't want to wear the puffy shirt!). I had no idea that the best was yet to come. The very night of this Pirate Halloween costume he told me he plans to be Batman for Halloween 2007. We bought him a Batman costume for his birthday thinking he could enjoy it between then and Halloween. This was the result:


Suddenly Batman was everywhere! When he talked on the phone he would say "This is Batman speaking", when I told him climbing on the counters was dangerous he said, "But Mom, I'm Batman! I won't get hurt." When I picked him up from preschool the kids in his class and his teachers would say, "Bye, Batman!" When I commented on how cute that was he looked at me like I was a simpleton and said, "Well of course they said that. I AM Batman!"

Lately the intensity of the Batman mania is cooling and we are still waiting to see what will replace it. I am excited to see what he comes up with next, but for now I am just enjoying all of his creativity.

Dylan the giraffe eating acacia leaves