Batman and Robin

Being a mother of two boys is not easy.  In fact, it’s hard most days.  There is no down time, there are no leisurely afternoon tea-parties or coloring book sessions.  Instead, yesterday morning, I am fast asleep in my bed one minute, and the next, my door BANGS open and in runs my older son, with a red cape on his shoulders and a black plastic disk-gun in his hand, shouting “bang, bang, we got them!”.  I smile a groggy smile and say “Good morning Sam”, to which he replies “I’m not Sam, I’m Robin!”.  Of course, by now, I know how to respond.  “Okay Robin, where is your brother Batman?” I ask, considering twenty seconds ago I was asleep and I assumed my children were, too.  But no…Batman is not in bed.  Robin smiles and says “he’s downstairs getting us a snack”.  Sure enough…ten seconds later, I see my other son climbing the stairs with two Crunch bars, one for him and one for his big brother.  I pick up my phone and dare to look what time it is.  It’s 7:08 AM.

Because they are so adorable, I cave and let them eat the Crunch bars before breakfast (they were only fun size, it’s all good…).  As I go into my bathroom to get ready for the energy-filled day I’m sure to have, I hear my little superheroes running around our upstairs, chasing the “master criminals” and running back to the Batcave.  While I’m brushing my teeth, they come charging into my bathroom.  Cooper says “Mommy?” and Sam answers “No, that’s Bat-Girl.  She’s just brushing her teeth and getting ready to help us fight the bad guys”.

And so I’m Bat-Girl.  Or some days I’m Cat Woman.  No matter the name, I am ready for the game. I am ready to watch my boys live in a world where a piece of red felt that their Aunt Annie gave them turns them into Robin, and where everything in our house can now be referred to with the word “bat” before it (bat-table, bat-cereal, bat-Daddy….).  I am ready to get lost in this world with them…where they don’t have to worry about anything more than who gets to be Batman and who gets to be Robin.  I wish I could promise them a life without any bigger worries, or any real criminals and bad-guys, but I know that I can’t.  So for now, while they are 2 and 3, I will run with them around the house, and their Daddy will scare us all as he transforms into what Sam calls “the Riggler” (also known as “the Riddler”) and chases us until we can’t stand it anymore.

Saturdays on the blog we try to look for the good in people.  Sometimes that’s a hard task to accomplish, but not in this case.  Children are innocent, they are nothing but good.  I hope that I can remember that every day as I watch my boys grow.  Some day they won’t wear the capes anymore, and they won’t come barging into my room as I quietly sleep.  But I hope that day doesn’t come for a long time.

Let your children be Batman.  Or Robin.  Or whoever they want to be.  You won’t regret it for a minute.  And while you're at it, take pictures. Lots of pictures.  These are the moments of a lifetime.

Batman.

Robin.