When I left for work today, Vanya was in the den, still in his pajamas, watching a Batman cartoon. When I came by the house at lunchtime, the same episode of Batman was blaring, the volume through the stereo turned up to full blast. I could hear the noisy action from the driveway as I got out of the car. I may never know how the same episode got turned on hours later or how the volume got cranked to the max.

Batman is still the rage in our house. Before the Muses parade on Friday, my sister and I took the little kids to get some grub at a po-boy shop. While we were seated, another guy came through with his face all painted for Mardi Gras. Vanya stared at him a long time, and when he came over, Vanya asked very seriously, “Are you the Joker?”

He shrugged and replied, “Yeah. I’m the Joker.”

I thought this might scare the kid, but he didn’t seem too concerned, and when he caught the guy’s eye several tables away, he raised a hand and shouted, “Hi Joker!”

Later during the same meal, I looked up, and he was tapping the shoulder of a sheriff’s deputy seated behind him and shouting, “Look Papa, a fireman! Look! A fireman!” Thankfully, the deputy just ignored him.

Apparently the deputy didn’t feel like mixing it up with the Joker.