Superhero

Sometime last year, Burger King distributed Ironman toys with their kids meals. We stopped there for lunch one day while we were out running errands, a notable occasion only because it was Chase's first trip to Burger King, and his first introduction to Ironman. Burger King didn't seem to make that great of an impression on our son, but boy have we been inundated with Ironman.

Since that initial introduction, Chase has been fascinated with all things Ironman, Iron Monger, War Machine and Tony Stark. As a result, I've essentially taken a crash course in all things Marvel Action Hero, a subject that never particularly interested me before, but which now I find myself discussing ad nauseum with Chase, our resident comic book nerd.

Personally, I find it weird (and annoying) that Burger King would pack their kids meals with toys that promote a movie that is totally inappropriate for little kids. But it's apparently a common practice, because fast forward a few months and we were on the road to Connecticut for a family reunion when we stopped at a McDonalds for lunch, and who did Chase find in his Happy Meal but Captain America. Apparently they were doing a whole League of Justice thing, which is another subject I knew nothing about until recently.

After we collected Captain America, we had to go back. We are by no means fast food junkies, but all of a sudden we were hitting the drive-thru at least once every two weeks, checking to see which superheroes were included in this week's Happy Meal. Chase managed to score Batman, The Joker, Wolverine and Spiderman before McDonalds finally moved on to promote something else and our family finally got the chance to detox from ingesting all that fried food.

But just because McDonalds moved on didn't mean Chase had. It's been five months and we are still living and breathing Superheroes. I can't complain too much, because it's actually been a lot of fun. I've never seen Chase's imagination go so totally into overdrive. He loves racing around the house, dressed up as his favorite super heroes, saving Andrew and I from Evil in its various incarnations. Our only issue until recently has been that most of the cartoons and books that feature superheroes are a little too mature for a 3-year-old (read: just because it's a cartoon doesn't mean people don't get shot in the face). This was until we discovered the Super Hero Squad, which is basically all the characters Chase loves -- Ironman, Wolverine, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, plus a slew of "new" guys like Nick Fury, Thor, and the Silver Surfer -- but not so scary. They're silly more than tough, and goofy more than scary. We found a used DVD for sale for $5, and needless to say, it became an instant favorite.

Here are a few recent pictures of my favorite member of the Super Hero Squad:

I bet you didn't realize Tony Stark was so short.

Muscles!

Mommy's favorite action hero