The Super-Hero's True Identity

KK- 

Tonight our church hosted a "Trunk-or-Treat."  Everyone parked their cars, opened their trunks and handed out candy to the kids in costumes that paraded along the parking lot.  Some cars were decorated with all sorts of Halloween gear, but most importantly, they all had candy.  

T Bear was so excited to go "Trunk-or-Treating."  He put on his Super-Hero costume easily.  Big D took him around the parking lot.  Big D reported that T Bear figured out how to do the trunk-or-treating quickly and soon he could not wait for his friends (Snow White & Tinkerbell) any longer.  He started running between cars to get more candy.

After T Bear finished the circuit, he came back to show me his loot.  He said, "Mom, I know the name of my costume." Slightly confused, I asked him what it was.  T Bear answered, "Robin, like Batman and Robin."


I sighed.  The Super-Hero's true identity had been reveled.  Up until this point I had been clinging to the hope that I could keep my son in a bubble that did not have commercialized super-hero's and action figures.  The longer I could keep T Bear in the dark about these characters, the longer I could keep him as my little innocent boy.  


In September I sewed T Bear a cape with a big letter T.  The only reason T Bear wanted a cape was because he had seen the show "Super Why" and "Wonder Pets."  Those PBS-like characters were the only kind of super-heros T Bear knew.


As Halloween approach, I made T Bear a ghost costume which he refused.  I told him if he did not like the ghost costume, then he could wear a costume he already owned.  He chose his super-hero cape.  Big D convinced me one night that T Bear needed more than just a mere cape to wear on Halloween.  Reluctantly I went to a thrift store and found the perfect super-hero outfit.  It was a Robin costume.  Expect, I did not tell T Bear that is was a Robin costume.  I just told him it would go perfectly with his cape to make him look like a REAL super-hero.  He was thrilled.


He started off Trunk-or-Treat as a generic Super-Hero.  Then person after person commented about his Robin costume, T Bear figured out the true name of his costume.  He also learned about many more super-hero/action figures such as Iron Man, Spider Man, and Batman.  Tonight, I lost my little boy a few steps deeper into the world of super-heros and action figures.  My heart is sadden because that means he is growing up.


Fortunately, T Bear was not upset with me for keeping from him the true identity of his Halloween costume.  His sweet childish nature took the new knowledge with enthusiasm and ran with it.  He loved the whole experience of Trunk-or-Treat. 


I gave my Robin Super-Hero a big hug and then squeezed my puppy dog (Baby Cub) while whispering in his ear that he should never grow up either.  Then we headed home to eat some sticky sticky candy.


Happy Halloween!


-Miss T