Nice and shiny Armond

January 2, 2010

Among the gifts my son received for Christmas was a magnetic cardboard guy with various magnetized outfits, reminiscent of the paper dolls I played with as a little girl. 

The outfits include fireman, police officer, carpenter (or “worker guy,” according to my son), pirate, superhero, and nice and shiny Armond.

My son’s favorite is the fireman, of course.  My favorite is nice and shiny Armond.  He’s so nice.  And shiny, too!  He has a sword and a helmet, and my guess is he enjoys slaying dragons in his free time. 

Armond reminds me of the chivalrous heroes in the fairy tales of my youth.  By day, I imagine he rescues princesses from tall towers.  In the evenings he changes into a dress coat with tails and tall black boots and waltzes the grateful princess around the ballroom of her castle. 

My son is not entirely sure what Armond’s job is.  The occupations of the others are clear.  Firemen put out fires.  Police officers catch the bad guys.  Worker guys build stuff.  Pirates sail ships and search for buried treasure and say “Arr matey!”  Superheros rescue people. 

But Armond?  He’s just nice and shiny.  He has a sword, which indicates that he fights bad guys.  My son is not sure about dragons, though.  The only dragon he is aware of is Puff the Magic Dragon, whom we all know is a stand-up guy.  He has a snuggly dragon that has an honored place on his bed.  He is pretty sure Armond doesn’t cut any dragons with his sword.

My son is getting a little tired of Mom insisting he show off Armond to visitors.  What’s the big deal with this guy, anyway?  He just stands there looking nice and shiny, with his pointless sword and goofy helmet. 

He can’t figure out why I think it’s so cute when he introduces people to Armond.  The fireman is much more interesting. 

One of the joys of having a three-year-old is watching the distinct personality emerge.  My son is bossy and quite knowledgeable about life.  He has an answer to every problem you may have. 

He is protective of his mom. He is very concerned with the rules and doing the right thing.  He does not like bad guys or bad words.  He likes to show off his dance moves.

When an older kid at a Christmas party stole his younger friend’s toy, he marched over and stole it back.  He handed it to his friend with an indignant grunt towards the older boy, and talked about the incident for days after. 

At three, he gets enough about the world to know that it is a little scary, but mostly good.  He knows that grown up guys get to have all the fun – building stuff and putting out fires and catching the bad guys.  He watches out for the damsels in his life, stands up for what’s right, and isn’t afraid to take a spin around the dance floor. 

Maybe I like Armond so much because he reminds me of my own little knight in shining armor.

This article first appeared in the Lewistown News-Argus and the Sidney (Mont.) Herald on January 2, 2010.