Using His Powers for Good

For, well, as long as I can remember, I've been trying to focus Gabe's seemingly boundless energy into service for the powers of good. He's a smart kid, and that coupled with a short attention span makes him a prime candidate for many less than savory outcomes in life. I'm not talking ADD or ADHD, which are, of course, still options, I'm talking about super villainry or some other nefarious outlet.

Think about it. What do all super villains have in common? They are super intelligent, singularly determined, and they spend their time coming up with one plan after another to destroy whatever it is they are bent on destroying only to be thwarted because their plan wasn't foolproofed well enough (that sounds like an attention problem if ever I've heard of one). And WHY do they turn to a life of crime? Because they had bad parents, that's why.

Or maybe they're sociopaths. Whatever.

All I know is I don't want news crews beating on my door thirty years from now asking questions like, "Why didn't you do more when he was young to distract him away from the wiles of a life of crime? Why didn't you focus his energies towards the cause of good?" So I've been working with him.

Specifically, I've been trying to get him to entertain the baby.

Now, I KNOW there are those out there thinking, "But, Pat, you're not doing that to deter him from a life of crime, you're doing that because you want some help keeping your infant distracted!" To you I say, "Pah!" And I don't really have any further follow-up after that. It is, after all, a pretty damn good argument you've made based on sound observation. Jerk.

But the other day, my Good Guy Training began to pay off as Gabe spent a solid ten minutes playing with the baby's toys, mostly for her benefit. Button, for her part, LOVED it.

As a backup plan, I've also been training Gabe to be a rock star. I know this isn't a very GOOD backup plan, since, in many ways, rock stars are very much like super villains--in mentality, megalomaniacal tendencies, and short-sightedness, specifically. But, the way I see it, at least it's a happy medium. Rock stars might not be fighters for truth and justice, but at least they don't have to worry about Batman spraying Shark Repellent in their faces or Spiderman webbing them up in a ball to be hung for the police to find from a street lamp.

So far, I think he's leaning a bit more towards the rock star option, but it's still probably too early to tell.

Unfortunately, this isn't the best video of him playing his Yo Gabba Gabba guitar. He was really jamming, up to the point where I got the camera, then he jus continued half-heartedly for a bit. I do like that he's working on his stage antics already, though, by using the furniture to his advantage. Then, of course, he moves on to the drums, which are probably the ideal instrument for him, unfortunately. Drummers don't get the chicks, guitar players do. Ask Phil Collins.