When I’ve got an obsession, the kids will usually come along for the ride. For instance, Lego Star Wars, which used to scare the holy bejeezus out of Caroline, is now her
favorite Wii game. And my new-car-fixation has totally carried over into everyone checking their pockets and lunchboxes for leaks before entering the vehicle. Also,
I have lost control of my computer until I can set up a Beatles Cartoons list in my Youtube account and run it from Caroline’s machine for the kids.
So it should come as no surprise that Caroline and Sam have been Lumosing their nightlights at bedtime here lately or that Sam screeched “Alohomora it, MOM” at me when he found out that his graduating to a high backed booster has not yet absolved him of a door fastened with kidlock. While I can thank the Wii for their knowing these terms, since I shout them at the machine while wielding my nunchuck like a hammer playing the Lego Harry Potter game, it’s the Deathly Hallows
Part 2 that has the phrases in such high use right now. (Note – There’s a red spell that blows up silver objects in the Wii game. It isn’t technically alohomora. But that’s what
I yell when it isn’t doing what I want. I am surprised Sam didn’t shout “Alohomora
damn you, Mom”, since that would be a lot closer to what I actually bellow.)
Nor should anybody be shocked to know they are running around casting spells on things themselves. Of course, being that these are my kids, they have their own outfits and spells. And by “they”, I mean Sam. Caroline actually sticks to the Rowling script, as she understands it. Of course, as she understands it, Hermione is somehow the star, with Fang the dog as her loyal companion, and Ron, Harry, Hagrid, and also Tom Riddle as useful sidekicks. She gets it that Tom Riddle is Voldemort, who is a bad guy.
But she wants those damned red leviosa bricks as badly as I do, and
she’s willing to hold hands with dark forces to get them. Also, her interest in Harry Potter extends almost exclusively to the Wii.
Sam’s enchantment with the series is much more sweeping. He understands almost none of it but the whole thing captivates his burgeoning and as-yet-unrefined D&D geek. Hogwarts be damned, he plays his own way with only passing references, like the one when he realized his door was still locked cop-car style, to the actual books. I presume he will have no trouble writing fan fiction in years to come.
For the present, he sticks to doing his own costumes and spells. His first couple of efforts seem paired with his pre-existing princess fascination and Caroline’s recasting of Hermione as the main character. For instance, we have this little number, in which he demonstrates that he has no problems playing a girl, as long as he gets the lead role. He would have done Shakespeare proud.
However, his more recent creations include Star
Wars Crossover pieces like this one. The Broomstick is the Skywalker 2011,
owned by only the most enterprising young wizards. The wand is an 8 ½” long
premium plasticwood with an air core that comes in at around a penny if you
divide out the cost between it and the other 249 of them that came in the box.
Here, he has abandoned the broom, but added a carryall reminiscent of Hermione’s bottomless purse. He’s using it to hold his squishee, a positively medieval looking anger management tool that is really a gel ball that I’ve sewn into an old cloth diaper so he can carry it around his neck for handy mashing. Except when he pops it into my old Lexington Public Library coozie for a double layer of portability. I swear he came up with this on his own as it does not, to my knowledge, crop up in the books or years 1-4 of the Wii game, and I have never tried to explain the films to my kids at all. His wand was
originally an upgrade from the straw: 9 inch hardened dough and salt, with a softer dough core.
However, after an accident,
it became two wands which seem to function well enough given that their owner has his own set of spells to use with them,
including the ones he mentions here, “abla-ca-dabla” and “abla-ca-doobie” (I swear he has no clue what a ‘doobie’ actually is). In any case, I haven’t noticed any misfiring of the wands since the accident, but I will be sure to let you know if he comes home from school some day vomiting giant garden slugs. And I will try to write, because it drives me nuts to lose track of it like this. But. I have not the funds to contemplate setting the paying job aside, and I’ll have to compromise until I somehow gain them.
|
Jessie Powell is the Jester Queen. She likes to tell you about her dog, her kids, her fiction, and her blog, but not necessarily in that order. |