If Nietzsche or Foucault wrote this blog, they would have a long, rambling discourse on the meaning of Isaac's infatuation with the window switch in P-Pa's Avalanche. If Homer Simpson wrote this blog, he'd say: "Window Goes Up, Window Goes Down."  Those three fellas don't, so I will write this post.

On our fabulous and I do mean fabulous vacation to Ohio, P-Pa placed Isaac's car seat next to a window, as opposed to in the middle of the back seat, like we have it in the Subaru.  This allowed Isaac to reach the switch that rolled the window up and down.  As you can imagine, the window went up and down A LOT, including once in a car wash, which P-Pa and Nanna found hilarious (though I remember threatening to do the same thing when I was a kid and it was greeted with less laughter).  It was a great idea by P-Pa and Isaac played with the window the entire trip.  At random moments we'd be stormed by the helicopter effect (opening only one window in a moving car creates a weird pressure build up).  It also led to some great picture opportunities, like this one:

Just maxing and relaxing, doing some wind surfing with his hand.  Here is a quick video of all the action:

This past weekend Isaac went to his first birthday party for a non-relative.  It was Macy's birthday and it was at an indoor playground.  Now before you conjure up images of sweaty kids and sticky foam rubber midget slides, let me tell you things have changed since that play area in the mall.  Things have gone totally crazy.  Like this crazy:



That is our little guy at the summit of Mount Bouncy House.  The structure, made entirely of vinyl and air, stood approximately 30 feet high and had a slide probably 40 feet long (remember: A squared plus B square...blah, blah, blah).

He was trepidatious at first, sticking to the smaller yet still insane bouncy house structures, but eventually he worked his way up this monster.  Here is a video of I-man and Dad going down separately but at the same time:


The funniest part of this whole thing, as you can see a little in the video, is that at some point when Isaac was no longer afraid of the slide, he simply had no time for his dorky Dad.  Addison, another school friend, was way cooler and much faster getting up the steps.  It happened and he is only three--he ditched me for his friends.

Oh well, that slide rocked, even if I was the first adult to break the ice.  Everyone else rode it once after I took the plunge, and yes, I AM going to be that Dad.  Like you didn't know that already. 

A few months ago one of my favorite people at work, Lefty (yes, she goes by Lefty and works at the Public Defender) gave us a Darth Vader costume.  While the mask fit right away, thanks to Isaac's chrome dome, it was a while before the rest of the suit did.  But like all kids his age, Isaac hit a few growth spurts and suddenly he was big enough for the Vader costume.

As the VW commercial proves, there is nothing as cute as a kid in a Vader costume.  Here is a shot of the mini-Dark Lord of the Sith Force Choking his Dad:

For reference here is the movie image:

 
But its just not enough to look like the Dark Lord of the Sith, you have to fight like one and well that is where the lightsabers come in.  Dad threw on a green sheet to serve as a cloak and shut all the doors in the upstairs hallway for an awesome lightsaber duel:


It ended like they always do, with Isaac tagging Dad in the nuts semi-accidentally.  He's not called the Dark Lord of the Sith for nothing.