Villains, beware.

I don’t look forward to the kids outgrowing their mispronunciations.

Last week I had a perfect opportunity to get a shot of my son in his hand-me-down spiderman pajamas and blanket cape. He was being a boy, chasing his shrieking sisters like a true superhero. I passed the moment by, probably because the floor didn’t look picked up or mopped enough to be in a photo.

Yesterday (having worked on everything this past week except my Wednesday post – or mopping) I decided to recreate the scene so I could photograph it.

This type of plan rarely works.

This was not quite what I remembered.

I told him to make his FIERCEST, STRONGEST superhero face.

I was shaking in my slippers.

Not quite eliciting the feel of the previous superhero escapade yet, I had to use some ingenuity.

That means I bribed him with ice cream.

Got a good caption for this one? I debated between “Lohd Fahquad” and “Oooh, please cut my hair.”

The thoughts of ice cream in his head, combined with the relentless stage prompts from me, caused the situation to deteriorate rapidly.

That means the photo session came to a screeching halt.

We decided just to take an ice cream break. After that, he should be well fortified to play a FIERCE, STRONG superhero for the camera.

As the green superhero juice revived his powers, he went from this:

to this:

Yes, happiness comes in mint brownie flavor.

We were ready to try again. Fierce and strong!

This kid doesn’t get it.

I give up. What can I do when this is all I have to work with?

He may not be invisible, invincible, or indestructible, but he is incorrigible.

That means heartbreakingly lovable.

I’ll end with a candid shot of two other superheroes who routinely rescue me from my misguided self. This was taken in a hotel where my husband stayed over the weekend while he covered for a doctor in a small city that boasts the highest rate of death by drug overdose in the U.S.

Suddenly the rest of this post seems sort of irrelevant.

Here’s to a superheroic Wednesday. If you need an extra boost, you might try a cape. Or better yet, browse through Mom’s new Three By Fives section.

I think I’ll go hug my kids now and tell them I love them just as they are. Nobody has to be a superhero around here.