A great referral

Last night before bed, Airika was helping Gus change into his PJs. As he stood there naked from the

waist down (Donald Ducking, as we say around here), he shouted, “Honey! Where are my pants?”

The line is a direct reference to The Lego Movie, and if you didn't know that, something is wrong with you. Seriously.  Go see The Lego Movie. It’s great. (No, I mean it. Go now. You’re only hurting yourself.)

As Gus morphs from useless lump to useless baby to amusing toddler to little boy, he does a lot of things that make me proud to be a parent. Says his first word. Stands on his own. Recognizes the alphabet. Pees in the potty. These are all great milestones and wonderful memories.

But nothing makes me happier than when Gus uses pop culture references properly. He’ll be four years old in about a month, and he’s dropping references like a pro. I've coached him on many of these, like when he responds to a yes-or-no question with, “That’s a negative Ghostrider.” These instances are amusing for sure, but they don’t bring the pure joy that comes when he drops one all by himself, or recognizes MY reference and jumps in (Me: “That’s a fake laugh!” Gus: “IT’S REAL!” Seriously. Go see Guardians of the Galaxy).

It’s not that I want Gus to take after me in this regard. No, being able to quote Top Gun verbatim or worm Arrested Development quotes into a business meeting isn’t exactly something that gives me a strong pride-boner, especially when my brain can no longer complete simple math problems or remember that ONE thing I went into the kitchen for. (Although, when some rando marketing drone realizes you just quoted The Sandlot and throws you a bro-finger, it is somewhat gratifying.) But when a four-year-old kid does it...that shows a certain level of cognition, right? Independent thinking? The ability to piece together long-term word puzzles?

Maybe I'm just telling myself this to convince myself that it's cool to remember every last detail of the original TMNT movie. Either way, everything is awesome.