A brave baby, indeed. A new video of a dad handcrafting a pint-sized Iron Man costume for his infant son has gone viral after it was posted to YouTube last Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Eric Hart wanted his infant son Collier to be brave in the hospital, so the professional movie prop maker snipped, traced, and stitched his little one a handmade superhero costume for Halloween. The purpose of the father's gesture was to bring strength to his son, who has been hospitalized since he was born premature in July.
"I came up with Iron Man because he’s been hooked up to all those machines and wires," North Carolina native explained to the Today show. "And that’s similar to what Iron Man went through."
The video begins with footage of baby Collier, sleeping in a hospital crib while synched up to various tubes that funnel into his body. It then transitions to Hart sitting in his workshop surrounded by paper, scissors, tape. After diligently tracing and transferring the costume's outline to a foam board, Hart then glues the pieces together to create a helmet that fits his son's tiny head.
According to the Today show, the project took between three and four hours to make, which was nothing compared to the one minute of Collier wearing his dad-designed costume. "We thought we’d dress him up and take some pictures for the grandparents, the family and some friends," Hart told the Today show. "I figured I’d put the little mask on top of him just long enough to take a picture."
The doting dad added that the video has reached parents struggling with similar battles. "It just resonates with them of being able to find a small moment of joy during months and months of physical and spiritual exhaustion," he reasoned to Today.
"Even though we’re in the hospital, we’re trying to do everything that a regular family would do and celebrate all the holidays," he continued. "When he’s older, he’ll be able look back and hopefully see that his parents have basically been giving him a normal life ever since he started," he said. "We never thought of him as an interruption over this medical thing."
Watch the touching video above!
