lab coat

I went with Max and a friend of his to see the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" last week, and it was just the perfect movie for Max at this time in his life when he is so excited about science and so full of big dreams. The first line of the movie was something like "Have you ever felt different? Like you were destined to do something great for the world?" I looked over at Max and he had "YES!!" written all over his face. Max identified so closely with the main character of this movie, Flint, a wide-eyed kid who loved science and had big dreams of changing the world with his inventions. (You'd really have to see the movie to see how alike Max and Flint really are) One of the things in the movie that really left an impression on Max was the special lab coat that Flint had that was given to him by his mother, who always believed in his gift. When Flint was wearing it, he felt invincible! Today, Max got his very own special lab coat in the mail, given to him by his mother who is in awe of the gifts God has given to her little man. Max is IN LOVE!

In the absence of scientific props, Max decided to pretend he was holding something that he had just turned invisible with an invisiblizer machine that he invented

Dr. Max Harper in the house! (He seriously LOVES this name tag!)

When we left the movie, Max was really emotional. He, of course, couldn't say why, but I knew it was because the movie had just made such an impression on him. He was inspired and frustrated all at the same time -- inspired to do big things like Flint did; frustrated because he couldn't do them yet. He didn't really say anything. He just went straight up to his room to kind of process it all. After a while up there, he came down wearing all white (his T-ball pants and a white T-shirt) with a towel around his neck, asking if I could guess what he was. "Obviously, you're a scientist," I said. Max broke a big grin and went running around the neighborhood with his "science cape" on. Nobody knew what in the world he was pretending to be then. Now, I'm sure they'll be able to identify Dr. Max Harper in his white lab coat from a mile away :)