I was an imaginative kid. My Ninja Turtles caught ghosts with my Ghostbusters action figures.  We used to record homemade movies holding our toys above the back of the couch. Strewn around us an assortment of toys hidden from the recording film and we spoke from a poorly written script.  Now, as an adult I still sometimes have an inner monologue with the things I buy for my desk at home or work.  Play for a little bit before I find a spot for them to rest until they get knocked over or I have to re-arrange my collection.

Having a two year old, I get to be that young kid again.  Sometimes, I find myself making Mater and Fillmore (from the Pixar movie Cars) have a discussion about why jetpacks are cool.  Only to find out my son is ignoring me and racing the rest of the Cars characters without me.  When we are building with his wooden blocks, he’ll tell me to built a big fence for all of his animals to fit into.  Though, as I’m building it, he’s actually getting a gladiatorial arena where Handy Manny and the Tools have to fight for their life as Horses, Pigs, and Cows vie for their destruction.  I think it goes over his head a little bit.  The animals all mostly end up making their noises, falling over from being over crowded, which is REALLY funny to him, then they ‘toot’.  Usually by this point the fence gets destroyed by his bulldozers as he keeps mashing on the button to make them flash lights and make the beeping noises of destruction.

When we go to Target, his favorite store and one of the few he knows by sight, upon entering, he’ll make a beeline for the toys section.  As we walk up and down the various aisles pushing the buttons on every toy within his eye level that makes noises I spot various things I end up picking up.  There are some pretty cool toys out there for kids, there is this whole imaginative world set (Next to the Batman ones) that has dungeons, castles, dinosaurs, space stuff, a giant squid that makes noises and shuffles around. A whole ton of awesome stuff where my, err, I mean his imagination can run wild.

Eventually I get him to wander over to the section I like the best, the Star Wars/Marvel comics action figures of whatever is the newest movie coming out.  He doesn’t seem to care for Iron Man 2 action figures, I’m WORKING on it, oh yes, IoMan as he calls him is slowly creeping into his consciousness.  Last week, he picked up a light saber in a box saying “Wooooow.” I nodded and told him “Indeed little one.”  Then he dropped it and wanted to try and ride bikes, short attention span, that’s my kid.

This part of being a Geek Dad is probably the most fun so far for me, as we hit plastic golf balls at a cup being held by a Cabbage Patch kid it’s hard to not have fun.  Even when your kid is telling you to stop with the overly dramatic commentary as they try to hit their ball.  When my daughter arrives in a couple of weeks, some of the toys may change, but I’ll be having just as much fun.