Argh Me Hearties!

Benjamin and his obessions. First it was cutting the grass (all the grass at our complex, sometimes twice a day) with a toy mower, then dressing up as Santa (this one lasted over a year). He went through a pretty strong Dr. Seuss phase, culminating in a Horton obsession (if we were having a baby boy, Ben is still adament that we would have to name him Horton!). A few weeks ago we were playing (and hearing about) nothing but bats, and now we've moved on to . . . PIRATES.

 

I have to admit that I've got mixed feelings about this. Grandma gave Ben a book all about pirates that starts off with the line "Pirates were robbers on the sea." I don't want to be a controlling, paranoid parent (too late?), but I'm not crazy about Ben pretending to be a robber, even if he's just stealing gold from the sea.

Sometimes I suggest that we pretend to be "nice pirates" (like Captain Feathersword, for example), but Ben doesn't seem to like this idea.

My worries about young Benjamin entering a life of crime were soothed a bit, however, when I visited another mom from church who also has a recently turned five-year-old son who was ALSO playing pirates--and from the amount of pirate gear he was hauling out to show us, I think his level of interest might even match that of my own son. Another mom of teenage boys (who was also in on this visit) admitted that her sons had gone through a pirate stage with Halloween costumes, etc.

So (having had no brothers) I can only assume that a pirate stage is pretty normal for boys.

Janae is still one step behind, understandably. Even though Ben calls her the "Pirate Queen" and gives her all of his "gold," she still insists that she is a "princess bat" and refuses to pretend a coathanger is her "hook hand." She has recently started to growl out a pretty fierce "ARGH, ME HEARTY" out of the blue, though.

 

Other than worrying about Ben becoming a real pirate, attempting to come up with pirate names for myself and getting a sore throat from trying to talk in a gruff voice, my least favorite part of Benjamin's pirate phase is the piles of treasure we have to organize and put away at the end of the day (or two). I find plunder stashed everywhere--and if I'm ever looking for something like a puzzle piece or a doll's shoe . . . let's just say it takes a while to find it.

 

But I have to admit that despite all the drawbacks to playing pirates, I do enjoy seeing Ben's imagination at work. He starts every day with the question, "Can we play pirates now?" and ends each night with "Can we play pirates again in the morning?" He has so many ideas of where we can find "gold" and what we can do with it once it's been found. When I'm not feeling well he lets me lie on the couch and be the "sick pirate" and when I'm making lunch or dinner I become the "pirate cook." It seems that whatever the situation, Ben can turn it into something "pirate."

 

What can I do but join in? ARGH!