Youngest siblings truly grow up fast. In trying to keep up with their older brothers or sisters, the young siblings invariably skip many key phases of their toddler years. You know the phases…there’s the Sesame Street Years, followed by the Disney onslaught, followed perhaps by Clifford the Big Red Dog or Thomas the Tank Engine, and then slowly easing into the Sponge Bob underwater world. Our 3 year old son Christopher did more than just skip some phases this past summer, he almost seemed to pass his older brothers in his depth of emotion and understanding.
It all started so innocently. Last spring we took the boys to see the Titanic traveling display downtown. They seemed to enjoy it. We even picked up a few souvenirs. A few weeks later, our two oldest boys wanted to watch the movie “Titanic”. Christopher caught a few glimpses of it and was soon wrapped up in the drama. And now we have a full-fledged Titanic junkie on our hands. He carries around the house a wooden model of the ship and sleeps with it every night. He re-creates the fateful crash with the iceberg and subsequent sinking on a nightly basis, sometimes sinking the ship as many as 15 times a day. I walk in from work each evening with constant updates on the condition of the ship…the ship that seemingly can’t stay sunk. Christopher has become a walking CNN report on the status of the Titanic. The fictional characters from the movie, Jack and Rose, have become more important to him than Bert and Ernie, or Fred and Barney, or even Woody and Buzz ever were. Out of nowhere, from another room in the house, I’ll often hear Christopher proclaim, “I’m the King of the World!!!”, and I’ll know the ship has just left port and is heading out to sea yet again. Christopher insists on going to sleep with the somber sounds of the Titanic soundtrack in the background. He’s fallen in love with the bagpipes. Occasionally he will even break into a British accent, referring to “dogs” as “dawwgs” or “icebergs” as “icebahgs”. He even questions Captains Smith’s decision to light the fourth engine, despite all the iceberg warnings from other ships in the area. Stacks of Titanic books line the floor near his bed, having bumped aside such classics as Curious George and Charlie Brown. Trips to Borders bookstore now include a ritual of searching for new Titanic books. And now that school has started, Christopher has taken his obsession to his peers. He plays on the playground as if he’s Captain Smith, spotting ominous icebergs on the horizon, and making distress calls to the Carpathia. He even has his playmates talking about icebergs dead ahead, kapellers” (propellers), and the perils of life on the high seas.
In years to come we will look back at this “Titanic phase” with fond memories. Christopher will, at some point, move on from this. My only fear is, where does he go from here? Is there a “Schindler’s List” phase in his future? Or perhaps “Gone With the Wind”? No, I think the cycle will correct itself. By the time Christopher has children of his own, he’ll likely become obsessed with recapturing the youth he’s sure to feel he never had, and he’ll get his kids into movies like “Peter Pan” and “Pinocchio”. I can only hope.
It all started so innocently. Last spring we took the boys to see the Titanic traveling display downtown. They seemed to enjoy it. We even picked up a few souvenirs. A few weeks later, our two oldest boys wanted to watch the movie “Titanic”. Christopher caught a few glimpses of it and was soon wrapped up in the drama. And now we have a full-fledged Titanic junkie on our hands. He carries around the house a wooden model of the ship and sleeps with it every night. He re-creates the fateful crash with the iceberg and subsequent sinking on a nightly basis, sometimes sinking the ship as many as 15 times a day. I walk in from work each evening with constant updates on the condition of the ship…the ship that seemingly can’t stay sunk. Christopher has become a walking CNN report on the status of the Titanic. The fictional characters from the movie, Jack and Rose, have become more important to him than Bert and Ernie, or Fred and Barney, or even Woody and Buzz ever were. Out of nowhere, from another room in the house, I’ll often hear Christopher proclaim, “I’m the King of the World!!!”, and I’ll know the ship has just left port and is heading out to sea yet again. Christopher insists on going to sleep with the somber sounds of the Titanic soundtrack in the background. He’s fallen in love with the bagpipes. Occasionally he will even break into a British accent, referring to “dogs” as “dawwgs” or “icebergs” as “icebahgs”. He even questions Captains Smith’s decision to light the fourth engine, despite all the iceberg warnings from other ships in the area. Stacks of Titanic books line the floor near his bed, having bumped aside such classics as Curious George and Charlie Brown. Trips to Borders bookstore now include a ritual of searching for new Titanic books. And now that school has started, Christopher has taken his obsession to his peers. He plays on the playground as if he’s Captain Smith, spotting ominous icebergs on the horizon, and making distress calls to the Carpathia. He even has his playmates talking about icebergs dead ahead, kapellers” (propellers), and the perils of life on the high seas.
In years to come we will look back at this “Titanic phase” with fond memories. Christopher will, at some point, move on from this. My only fear is, where does he go from here? Is there a “Schindler’s List” phase in his future? Or perhaps “Gone With the Wind”? No, I think the cycle will correct itself. By the time Christopher has children of his own, he’ll likely become obsessed with recapturing the youth he’s sure to feel he never had, and he’ll get his kids into movies like “Peter Pan” and “Pinocchio”. I can only hope.
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