Hero of the Day

We went back to Botanica again for lunch today. (It's really close to Jesse's work so, I can just pack our lunches and meet him there over his lunch break.) A few more flowers were in bloom.

Lenten Rose

Crocus

Another type of Crocus

Something that's next to "Parisian Skies" Navelwort, but didn't have a sign of it's own.

A type of Iris?

Here's the same thing in a different shade. Plenty of it all over with no sign that I could find. *sigh*

And a few Daffodils... I'm expecting there to be much more by the end of this beautiful week!

Diego immediately found a walking stick and decided he was Johnny Appleseed.  He sang "The Lord's Been Good to Me" through the entire garden. I love that Johnny Appleseed is his idea of a hero to be imitated. Pretty awesome!

For the most part, we've been lucky and have been able to avoid most of the superhero stuff that most boys his age are into. I find something unsettling about the idea that they market the superhero movies to boys my son's age through Happy Meal toys when the ratings reflect that they're meant for young men. Most of the time, when I'm asked if we want a boy or girl toy, I respond, "No toy." When I first started doing this, it was mainly to keep my house from being cluttered with junky toys that my kids believe are not valuable enough to play with but too valuable to throw away or donate. I explained to the children that they are not well made toys- that they break easily and that we don't want that kind of toy, and now they remind me to say "No toy." It's also been a great way of avoiding introducing questionable characters to my kids... we don't get Barbie and we don't get Starwars. To me, this is a big win! I don't mean to offend anyone with this--it's just not something I'm ready to introduce to my kids.

I do know that he'll eventually be introduced to all of this through friends, if nothing else, and I wonder how  I'll handle it. I am not okay with him watching or pretending to be characters from PG-13 movies. I want to keep Diego (and Cruz) thinking on excellent and praiseworthy things! What do you do to keep your boys' minds pure? To introduce him to role models who are righteous... or at least ones who aren't trying to conquer women when they're not busy fighting crime? I'd love to hear your thoughts!