Hulk Smash

Lucas's birthday is next weekend.  (eight years old!!!  zoinks!)  Yesterday we took the boys to the toy store so that Lucas could look around and decide which of the cleverly-marketed-plastic-items-built-by- underpaid-workers-in-foreign-environmentally-polluting-factories he wishes to consume. toys he might like for his birthday.  I completely expected him to find the aisle of animal figures or books and camp out.  

He blew past those aisles with hardly a glance.  

wha???

He didn't really seem interested in anything (except for the Baby Einstein videos.  The boy has a serious obsession.)

Until we hit the Super Hero action figure aisle.  (AKA barbies for dudes.)

Then, Lucas went wild.  Crazy.  Koo-koo for Coa-Coa-Puffs.  Chris and I just kept looking at each other with wide eyes.  The Barbies for Dudes aisle Super Hero Action Figure aisle was the last we went down in the entire store (because a little girl tossed her cookies in that aisle, right in front of Captain America.  I think she maybe finds him smug.  I do.)  So we had to wait for that to get cleaned up.  

And then...

Then, it was Super Hero Blissfest 2013.

I now know that Lucas prefers Marvel to DC Comics.  Something that I didn't know until yesterday.  Interesting.

Hulk smash.  (My new favorite line.  I plan to use it liberally.)

He was absolutely giddy.  Lined them all up.  (Because he's Lucas.  And that's how he rolls.  In neat, tidy lines.  Or sometimes, neatly grouped according to animal kingdom, phylum, class and order.  But we're talking Dude Barbies, here.  Not animals.  Keep up.)

It's pretty exciting to see Lucas branch out a bit from his animal and Williams-Sonoma catalogue comfort zone.

And he wants to be Iron Man for Halloween.

Iron Man.

Iron Freaking Man.

Not a pirate like he has been for past two years, and what I assumed he would be for the rest of his life, forever and ever amen.  (Because that's what Garfield and Odie dress up as in the critically acclaimed 1985 smash hit, Garfield's Halloween Special.  If it's good enough for Garfield, it is good enough for Lucas.)

What the what???

Not a pirate???

Hulk smash, Gentle Reader.

Hulk.  Smash.