J. TODD FOSTER: Thankful To See World Through Eyes, Minds Of Sons

Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to talk about Batman and what kind of underwear he dons beneath his tights and cape. But my pint-sized inquisitor won’t let me off the hook.

“OK, OK,” I say. “I happen to know for a fact that Batman prefers ‘Rescue Heroes’ underwear just like yours. Now will you put them on?”

As we all celebrate Thanksgiving this week, near the top of my list of blessings are the daily glimpses I get of the world through the eyes and minds of two young sons. Jake turns 4 on Thanksgiving Day – Happy Birthday, Jakey – and Tyler turned 6 last month. Their world is a nice change of pace from my world of bailouts and Obama, deadlines and deflation, murder and mayhem.

They’re good boys, owed almost entirely to a stay-at-home mom who left an up-and-coming legal career for full-time motherhood, where there are no billable hours, or Martini lunches or any down time, for that matter.

On weekday mornings, I drive Jake to his preschool on my way to work. It’s a 14-minute trip unless I catch red lights. I used to listen to NPR on the way, but now I turn off the radio and listen to Jake, who peppers me with questions and sets me straight about his world. Among his actual inquiries and monologues are these:

* “I love Mommy and Daddy and Tyler and my school and my teachers and Jack Hammer [Rescue Hero] and Gil Gripper [another Rescue Hero] and Jacob & Marley [not a legal firm but Ebenezer Scrooge’s dead business partner, but more on him later] and Halloween and candy and firefighters and police officers and Batman and Nemo and the scuba diver in Nemo …” (I don’t have the heart to tell him that the scuba diver is the one who actually captured Nemo and separated him from his clownfish father, a single parent, a widower, just trying to raise his young son the best way he could on a not-so-peaceful sea anemone.)

* “Daddy, does Batman like me?”

* “Daddy, does Jesus like me?” To which I said, “Jesus loves you; he loves all boys and girls.” “Then I love Jesus,” Jake concluded.

* “Daddy, does the Statue of Liberty like me?” Off Interstate 81’s Exit 7 is a good-sized replica of Lady Liberty at the Liberty Tax Service office.

* “Daddy, do the Teletubbies like me?” “Which one?” I asked. “Laa-Laa,” Jake said. Me: “I know for a fact that Laa-Laa loves you. But stay away from that big purple one, Tinky Winky. I think Jerry Falwell was right about him.” Jake: “What are you saying, Daddy?” Me: “Hey look, there’s the Statue of Liberty.”

Tyler, being 2 years older, is much more philosophical. He’s a kindergartener who’s into firefighting and ballet. This will be the second straight year in which he will appear as one of Bob Cratchit’s children in the Highlands Ballet-Bristol Ballet production of “A Christmas Carol” at the Paramount Center for the Arts. We have the DVD from last year’s performance, the highlight of which is when Jacob Marley flies into Scrooge’s bedroom on a harness, a ghostly harbinger of what Scrooge faces if he doesn’t abandon avarice and callousness toward humankind.

Jacob Marley is the favorite character of both Tyler and Jake, but he’s known as Jacob & Marley in our house. Their interpretation of “A Christmas Carol” may diverge a little from author Charles Dickens’, but the classic is appreciated nonetheless.

For example, as the ballet opens, Marley’s casket is being carried to the burial site. There will be plenty of time to tell Tyler about death and loss; for now, we’re happy to indulge his opinion that the casket is actually a giant milk carton being carried into town, I suppose, to quench the thirsts and calcium needs of all the townspeople.

(The one question we’ve received from Tyler about death was quickly redirected to our priest. It was a two-parter: “Does God cause hurricanes and tornadoes?” and, if so, “Why?” I was too busy looking for a kneeler to dive under to hear the priest’s whole response.)

The curtain will rise again on the giant Marley milk carton next month, so here’s my shameless plug: You can see “The Christmas Carol” at 8 p.m. Dec. 5 and 2 p.m. Dec. 7 at the Paramount in downtown Bristol.

Tyler will be the only male dancer under 4 feet tall; Jake, as last year, will be in the audience ogling the teenage beauty with – in his words – “the yellow hair.”

J. Todd Foster is managing editor of the Bristol Herald Courier and can be reached at or (276) 645-2513.