To infinity and beyond

It all started while we were in Duchesne, and it started with Humpty Dumpty.

After he was done acting out the nursery rhyme, he looked at me with panic in his eyes. "Humpty Dumpty needs to go potty."

And thus it began. He had morphed into a character, and he referred to himself in third person.

As soon as he had used the potty and we had finished packing up those suitcases, we drove to Logan. "I'm not Humpty Dumpty anymore," he told us on the drive. "I'm Buzz Lightyear."

And thus has he stayed for two weeks now.

Not continuously. Sometimes he has been Woody or Lightning McQueen, and after watching a PBS show at the tire shop, he has occasionally been SuperWhy. He makes it a point to not be whatever we call him. "I'm not Joseph. I'm Buzz." "I'm not Buzz. I'm SuperWhy." "I'm not SuperWhy. I'm Buzz."

And then, we all get roles of our own. "You're Mommy Buzz. And he's Daddy Buzz. And Matthew is Baby Buzz."

Except, of course those names change too. Yesterday, Joseph was at church playing with friends. I had gone into a classroom to nurse Matthew when I heard Joseph calling, "Woody . . . Woody, where are you?" And I knew enough to answer. "Why are you wearing a hat?" he asked me out of the blue today when I clearly wasn't. "Because I'm a cowboy," I responded.

He has assigned many of his friends titles too, and they seem okay with it. When we went to "Slinky's" house like he had asked, his friend seemed totally cool with being called Slinky most of the time. (He had spent several weeks last year being called Ruffrey by his older sister since she wanted a pet dog, so I guess he was sort of used to it.) Jessie, Rex, Pig (he meant Hamm), Mr. Potato Head -- everyone is someone from the Toy Story world. Only, he keeps assigning Jessie to boys.

Although it's been confusing (one night, Kevin told me he had to "bless Buzz" instead of "bless Joseph" during bedtime prayers), it's had some advantages. Buzz is a helper space ranger by nature, so he is happy to fetch things, fly up the stairs on his own to infinity and beyond, or try Buzz space food. As long as it's food he already likes.

My favorite aspect of his Buzz Lightyear charade is also perhaps the most annoying. Sometimes, he stops what he's doing and stands still in the middle of the floor, mouth slightly open.

"I'm a frozen toy," he says, moving his mouth as little as possible.

"How do I unfreeze you?" we ask.

"You have to press my laser."

So we do, and he sometimes warns us that his eyeballs could have been sucked out of their sockets. But he's unfrozen, so it's all good.

We have no clue how much longer this will continue, nor how many more personas he will adopt. But we sure love our silly boy, whatever his name is.

And suddenly I appreciate this wedding present a whole lot more.