As in the Star Wars saga itself, I think Episode III will be the darkest and saddest portion of our tale.
The other night Daniel wanted to watch Star Wars before bed again. I decided to put in Return of the Jedi thinking he'd like the Ewoks. Well, I was right. He thought they were very cute and whenever the scene would move, he'd ask to see the "jungle parts".
After a while, he wanted to see Darth Vader and asked if there was a big sword fight in this one. He also asked if Darth Vader was going to take his helmet off. I don't know why he knew that - this boy just knows stuff.
I put it to the end for the Luke/Vader fight. Luke cuts off Vader's hand and then the Emperor comes to get Luke to turn to the dark side. Luke says no and the Emperor shoots him with force lightning. I thought that would be a little too scary so I fast forwarded through the electrocution bits and the Emperor getting thrown in the pit and stopped at the scene where Vader unmasks.
Luke and his father share this touching moment and Vader dies in his arms.
"Daddy, is Darth Vader sick?"
"Yes buddy, he's pretty sick."
With a shaking, tearfilled voice, "Is Luke going to take him to the doctor?"
I nearly cry at this. Daniel's favorite character is hurt really bad and he doesn't know how to deal with it. His heart is breaking and he doesn't know why. I don't know what to say.
"Luke's going to take Darth Vader to the doctor Daddy. He's going to take him to the hospital"
"He's going to be okay buddy," I lie.
How do you talk to a toddler who isn't yet three years old about death? I guess I'll have to get a book from the library or something.
So often he acts so much older. He hungers and thirsts for information. He watches and observes so much and remembers things months later. We want to get him into some sort of preschool in the fall, but we're not even sure where we'll be living in September. I don't want to push him, but I don't want to hold him back either.
Man, this parenting thing is tough. Changing diapers is nothing.
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