The arrival of Devon in our lives changed everything. Everything. There is not a single area in our existences that is the same since he joined our odd family nearly four years ago. It goes deeper than the third child thing; beyond the fact that once he arrived there was open heart surgery, spousal tumult, financial issues and grief beyond description when we lost my father-all within 20 months of his short life. And as much as that kicked us all on our collective asses, it has become the norm. Tumult, chaos, noise -it is all in a day's gig for us. I am not complaining, just taking stock to clear up my head and make sense of it all. Because sometimes when I find myself unable to breathe and wondering what the hell is going on, I need to take a moment, plug into some music on my laptop and figure out how the hell I can pull my head out of my ass so that my kids don't suffer any the worse for it.

Summer is never a tranquil span of time in our house, as I suspect the case is in many homes. The age differences in the children ensures that most activities are not suitable for all of us to participate in at one time. Loren has friends and a busy social life, Cassidy is heading that way and Devon seems to need more quiet time at home with his toys. I often feel as though the room is spinning and I just want to curl up in a ball until it passes over. Only it doesn't, it keeps coming. Every day is a flurry of upheaval and I just want to find a constant in it all. A couple of days ago I realized there was indeed a constant, Devon and his Oddness. Usually I forget about this but recently it has reared its head in away I simply can't ignore. Aside from the fact that Devon hasn't ingested a bite of solid food in over three weeks -vanilla yogurt and milk is it, Devon is extremely particular about his clothing. Nothing fancy or flashy, mind you. Everything must be super soft, no tags and it is not unusual to find him dressed in a head to toe fleece ensemble in mid-June. But now he has added a Batman costume to it. Yepper. Boy howdy was I super bright when the other day in Target I agreed to buy him the outfit. It came in a bat shaped box and I thought it was just a mask. But when we got out of the store and opened it we found not only the mask but a cape and a full boy sized suit as well. Devon immediately whooped something incoherent as he jumped up and down and begged me to put it on him. All right. Eighty degrees out and completely covered in black nylon we proceeded on with our errands. The fellow patrons in Bed, Bath & Beyond and PetCo found him adorable and he, seeming to feel secure behind his mask, was willing to stop and grant an audience about his Batman opinions. Errands that would have taken us a mere 20 minutes ended up at nearly an hour.

The bat suit entered our lives five days ago and has yet to be abandoned. Devon sleeps in the suit part with the cape and mask lovingly hung next to his bed and waiting until morning to be donned for yet another day of crime fighting. He begs incessantly to sit at my laptop to watch the YouTube clips of the old, cheesy Batman cartoons. When he believes nobody is watching he acts out the clips and pretends to fly through the air. Totally cute and mostly harmless. However, if he collects a closet full of costumes and takes to wearing masks and tights on a daily basis I might start to worry. Just a little.