The Dad Star

I got my 6-year-old an X-Wing fighter toy for Christmas (which is nearly identical to the one I had at his age) and he absolutely loves it. He's been flying it around the house non-stop, shooting at things, including me, which he has dubbed "The Dad Star." I'm not accustomed to being a planet destroying space station, but as long as he doesn't try to fly his toy down my trench and fire lasers into my exhaust port, I'm okay with it.

The Studio Boss

Sometimes my kids make me feel like a studio boss. You see, two summers ago I got the crazy idea to make a short superhero themed movie with them just for fun and they’ve been relentlessly pitching me ideas for more ever since.

Back when I was an age somewhere between the current ages of my two kids, I had decided, without a doubt, that I wanted to make movies when I grew up; a desire that was, of course, fueled by two guys named Lucas and Spielberg. I remember my ambition and excitement to make movies of my own was out of control, but, being the days just before the arrival of personal video cameras, there was no way for a kid my age to do so … or so I thought. Imagine my unbridled joy the day when I learned my parents had bought themselves a Super 8 movie camera and were actually willing to let me use it. It was crude, it was kind of expensive and it had no sound capabilities, but it was something. And then imagine my excitement when I Iearned that using a Super 8 was exactly how Spielberg had gotten his start as a kid.

Unfortunately that excitement quickly reverted back to frustration when I was faced with the harsh reality that filmmaking is, for the most part, a collaborative art and, being the only child of two busy parents, I became quickly frustrated when most of the time I couldn’t find anyone to help me with my creative visions. And this is why, despite the fact that I end up doing 75% of the work and they instill insane, whine-infused deadlines to deliver the finished product to them within a day or two (though luckily they’re pretty easy to please), when my kids beg me to help them make a “movie,” I will always, eventually, find the time to do so. Oh, the irony of life that I went to film school and moved all the way to Los Angeles to end up only, to date anyway, making movies with my kids. Hopefully I'm giving them inspiration and maybe teaching them some skills. I guess at the very least it's fun quality time spent together that they'll remember as we all grow older.

The Harry Potter Ride vs. My Son

My son is bummed he's not tall enough yet to ride the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios. I told him he should've worn his platform 9 3/4 shoes.

Toes

I noticed my 6-year-old looking very intently at his toes. After a moment he asked if I could stick my middle toe up by itself and I told him I didn't think I could. He then asked me if doing so was like saying a swear word like it is when you do it with your middle finger. Yes, son ... never, ever flip your middle toe at anyone. Except maybe if someone cuts you off in traffic.

Feeling Loved

It always makes me feel so loved when I come home from a long day at work, walk in the front door and both my kids come running out, all smiling and yell, "Yay! Food's here!" and then grab the take-out I brought home for dinner out of my hands and run off. Yes, these are the precious moments.

Business Venture

My 6-year-old came to me yesterday with a small stack of construction paper and asked me to make some paper airplanes with him. I wasn't sure why until I watched him gather them up, put them into his trick or treat pumpkin bucket, walk out to the sidewalk in front of our house and start yelling, "Paper airplanes for sale!" After his new business venture ended in failure, we all got in the car to go get some lunch and he brought his bucket of planes with him. Once at the restaurant, while standing in line at the counter, he broke away from us and I assumed he was going to start trying to sell them again. To my surprise, he just started handing them out to all the ladies in the place, all of whom were obviously charmed by him, laughing and smiling as he demonstrated their use. This kid.

List

In other news, our 6-year-old just presented us with his official Christmas "list" which consists of a nearly 6-foot-long chain of photos of toys cut out from catalogs and taped together, end-to-end.

And The Rest

I remember getting mad as a kid whenever I heard the original version of the Gilligan's Island theme refer to the Professor and Mary Ann as "and the rest" and now so do my kids. Ah, the circle of life.

The Dark Side

By request, we recently purchased the 6-year-old a new set of Star Wars themed bedsheets. I have to confess that when he picked out ones that were emblazoned with Darth Vader and Storm Troopers, this caused me some concern that he may be aligning himself with the dark side, but all those worries were laid to rest last night when, while being all tucked into bed, he started to giggle maniacally and said, "I just farted on Darth Vader." I mean, really ... that's cold. The dude already has breathing problems.