Does Not Compute.

Breckin has his daddy's movie memory.  It's uncanny.  He's always had a good memory for details and has remembered every little outing we have or place we go for dinner.

But, he kills me with Star Wars.  I know that Dustin has talked about Star Wars with him since he was in my belly and we have a neighbor who has done nothing but fueled the fire since Breckin was two years old.  (That's right, Chully.  He was TWO when you started with Boba Fett and the big R2D2).  Breckin has only seen each Star Wars movie once.  Once.  Yes, he has some Star Wars lego sets and it probably helps that he likes to play the video games but his knowledge of the droids and planets and which part of the story is in which episode is killing me.  It could rival some adults, for sure.  I've never seen all six movies (throw your stones now, please) so I have no idea what he's talking about half the time.

His good night story is the Star Wars lego encyclopedia.  He wants to read each data file and know when the piece came out, which set it came with, and which movie it appeared in.  Now there's a chapter for The Clone Wars- an apparent tv show that continues the movie story line and one I've been avoiding as long as possible.  It's on Cartoon Network, has serious story lines, and is more graphic than the charming PBS Kids shows he loves.  Must.  Let.  Go.  Of.  Childhood reins.  I finally recorded one for him today while he was at school cause I knew he would freak out.  The show starts as soon as he can physically fling his backpack down and not 30 seconds into the opening shot, he gets all excited that it's on such and such planet and there's the blah blah ship and oooo mom, that guy with the blue face is Cad Bane.

Really?  This stuff sinks in so flippin fast.  He's seen them ONE TIME.  And yet he lives and breathes Star Wars and ninjas and wildlife explorers.  If, one day, his high school teachers could make ninja movies that taught about math or sentence structure, there is no doubt he would remember it forever.  Is he really going to be one of those guys who remembers quotes from every movie they see and knows who was in which movie with who?  Cause I already have one of those guys in my house....

Ninja- GO!!!

Breckin is really into Legos.  Of the various lego sets, his favorite are the Ninjago.  And, of the Ninjago- the best are the spinjitzu.  Got that?

So, the super genius-now very wealthy creators at Lego came up with a story line of ninjas and skeletons and snakes that battle each other and can turn regular cars and trucks into insane machines that have chopping blades and shoot ice bullets and teach my child words like scythe and katana.  And they have special lego sets that come with a skeleton or ninja minifigure, a little disc that it stands on, and three or four little weapons that range from wooden staff (lame!) to The Sword of Fire (supercool).  You give your guy a weapon, lock his feet on the disc, and spin it with your thumb and finger.  Like I said.  Genius.  There is an infinite number of combinations of dudes and weapons and discs AND they have cards you can play to give your guy extra powers like standing on one leg or adding a lego to the bottom of the disc to make him taller or using two weapons.  Yes, we are creating little D&D kids one at a time.  Different ninjas have different powers- fire, ice, lightning, and earth- and they can only use certain cards.  So no two kids have the same dude and weapon and card and spinner.

Now, because they aren't genius enough, the Lego store in our local mall hosted a tournament for kids to battle each other- beating mom is too easy by now- and have the chance to win the giant Ninjago lego set of "Destiny's Bounty".  The flying ninja ship that they live on.  Ooooohhhh.  Aaaahhhh.  Of course Drew (refer to the post about Breckin and his grown up friends) entered Breckin in this tournament and basically just let us know which day to show up last time we were there.  Of course he did.

We practiced his spinning skills pretty much every day leading up to the tournament.  And so did every other 5-10 year old boy (and one girl!!) so by the time we arrived for our 5:00 show down, the place was manic with kids who were certain they were going to win this ship.  Breckin threw in the added touch of wearing his actual Sword Of Fire.  (He chose, however, not to go with the ninjago tshirt in favor of his Boba Fett shirt as it was opening day of Star Wars back in the theater.  Naturally.)

Drew was hosting the event.  Breckin was up first, as he was one of the youngest, and battled well.  He won his first round by knocking off the other guy twice.  Go Buddy!  Then we had to wait around (oh, look.  a Lego store to wait around in) until his next round.  There were something like 24 kids so it took a while.  He won his second round.  More waiting around.  He got to the last round before the final face off and lost.  Not by getting knocked off the spinner but because the other guy's spinner spun longer.  Weak sauce.  He handled it extremely well, shook hands, showed Drew that he wore his ninja sword, and - because, really? can you leave the Lego store after being there for an hour without picking something?- chose Jay's Storm Fighter plane.  Sweet.

I was so proud of his patience during rounds and, most importantly, how he lost.  Drew came by after the tournament was over and said he was so sad when Breckin lost on a technicality.  He was really hoping Breckin would win the day's event.  We thanked him for hosting such a cool thing for the kids.  Those damn genius Lego people.    

Pictures of Lego time and other February stuff are over there ---->

Loose teeth give me the heebie jeebies.

I can handle all night vomiting, explosive diapers, head wounds, rashes, cleaning out ears, scrubbing toilets, dog messes, and all of the other joys that come with motherhood.  Lovely, yes?

What I can't handle is teeth.  Loose teeth make my innards crinkle and squirm.  I despise them.  So, of course, Breckin's wiggly tooth that has been hanging on for dear life decides to fall out- with a little assistance from his floss- when I'm home alone.  No Daddy to take the reins.  Bleh.  Super bleh.

But, if I show weakness or fear, he may freak out.  I have to act like it's super cool and normal (I know, it is) and a fun time.  We dabbed the little bit of blood, swished with warm water, and now it's waiting for the fairy to show up and take it back to tooth land.  He could have cared less.  He was off to find the neighbor kid to play with as soon as I said he was done.  No ceremony?  No party?  No moment to relish in this famous stage of childhood?  Guess not.  I tried to call Dad to share this moment but it's rush hour and he's driving the van pool.  Hmmm.  Congratulations, buddy.  I think I need a glass of wine.