Here is Darth Vader riding his Imperial Big Wheel. It’s funny how random Christmas gifts can turn out to have a big impact. Ben had been asking Santa repeatedly for the game Mario Kart for his Nintendo DS. Santa brought it for him, and just happened to throw in a Lego Star Wars game because it looked like fun, too. A few weeks later, and I think we have a little Star Wars fan on our hands.
Ben has spent hours playing the game, which takes you through the six Star Wars movies in detail, and includes all of the characters that you could think of. Its been amazing to see how quickly he has picked up how to play the game, and even more fun o see how interested in the story he has become. As a result, this past weekend we sat down and watched 3 of the movies together, and started the fourth.
So now, Ben knows the Star Wars story in detail. He knows how Darth Vader came to be, he knows how everyone is related, he knows who fights who, he knows the names of the machines and the spaceships. The other day Mommy asked Ben if he was going to become a Star Wars nerd when he gets older and his reply was “I already am!” We play pretend games where we battle with our light sabers, or travel the galaxy as father and son bounty hunters Jango and Boba Fett. Ben draws pictures of his favorite characters, has me search YouTube for video clips of them, and wants to make up his own stories with them.
He definitely leans towards the dark side for his favorite characters, some of them being Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Boba Fett (I guess the bad guys all look cooler!) But, if you ask him his favorite, he will tell you its Yoda (or, since Ben knows that Yoda talks backwards, he might say “Yoda my favorite he is!”) He has already said maybe he could be Yoda for Halloween, and maybe he could have a Yoda cake and a Star Wars birthday party. Yoda does look pretty cool, but I wonder if Ben really likes him because his light saber is green…Ben’s favorite color. He even has a stuffed Yoda that he sleeps with each night. Stuffed Yoda even made a trip with us to church last week, where Ben told everyone about him and who he was. One lady pet Yoda on his head and said he was really cute, to which Ben replied “And you know what? He died in his bed!” The lady laughed, but Ben was right, correctly referencing a scene in The Empire Strikes Back.
The silliest Star Wars moment definitely came when Ben decided he really wanted to go out for a ride on his big wheel…. with his Darth Vader helmet on. Not only did he want to wear the helmet, but he wanted people to see him in it (as Ben said, “They will look out their windows and go ‘What is that!?’) He even asked if he could ride near the highway so that more cars would go by and see him. Instead, we settled on a trip up one side of the street, and down the other. I could just hear the Darth Vader music in my head as Ben peddled down the sidewalk. Unfortunately, it was a pretty quiet day on our street, and I don’t think Ben got the audience he was hoping for (“I didn’t see anyone looking out their windows” Ben said). Still, it was a memorable moment for Daddy, and I got one of my favorite pictures out of it.
So next time you see Ben, go ahead and try to stump him with some Star Wars trivia. Chances are he will surprise you with his answers. In the meantime, he is still battling his way through his game, trying to unlock all of the characters and learn all of their names and their places in the movies. Don’t be shocked if you happen to see Vader cruising down the sidewalk on his big wheel in your neighborhood. This has all been lots of fun, and its great seeing how excited and interested in the Star Wars universe that Ben has become. It makes me proud that I can look at the little guys and say in my best Darth Vader voice “Ben, I am your father!” … and he gets the movie reference and laughs with me.
That picture is SUPREMELY AWESOME!!!!
Since I’m not a big Star Wars fan………….. the “force is not with me”……. that’s the best I could do.