Posted 3/11/07

Oh to be a child...........

You know... they're so serious, little children. They take their tasks so seriously. Everything is done with the intention of succeeding. Everything from eating a bowl of cereal to playing video games is done with earnestness and sincerity. I have forgotten, (thank goodness) at what age my older two decided doing things half way just to get it done, or just placating people by giving things a little attention was the way to go to save time sometimes. I think God lets moms forget the "yucky" sometimes so we can have the memories of how darling and sweet and pure our children are.

For what ever reason God gave us Dalton when I was entering my middle age, I'm forever grateful. In the age of "mediocrity", I have the sincerity of youth.

For example; each day when Dalton gets off the bus, he tells me about how he didn't have to pull a pin today and who did and how upsetting it must be for someone to NEVER get a happy face in their behavior chart. I get to know about the playground games and how he wishes so badly he'd get chosen for Randy's teams. Soon after homework is done, (and yes, he has homework every day IN KINDERGARTEN!), he sets about playing. Now if it's nice we try to enjoy the outdoors a little. If it's cold he usually plays video games. He's quite proficient at these games. Particularly games where you have to use critical thinking skills to get ahead. Role playing games too, he's quite good.

Yesterday I allowed him to play a demo of Marvel Nemesis. This is a rated "T" game and it's difficult. Now before you all suck in your breath and ooooo over my allowing my precious six year old to play such violent games, he knows the difference between games and real life. He knows that when people beat the tar out of each other and bleed on a game it is fake and people do not survive those things. He's very passive in most respects. (The exception is when he plays action figures and video games or his brothers decide to wrestle with him. Hey - a six yo has to be pretty good and quick on his feet to wrestle with a 17 year old and a 20 year old...)

When his 20 year old brother saw him playing Nemesis, he asked him what was he playing with. Dalton told him a demo. He promptly went into the garage, grabbed his own full version of this game and gave it to him. Told him he was old enough now and good enough to understand the game and he could have it. Dalton was in orbit and of course in love with his big brother for hours.

Playing Marvel Nemesis: see the blur of his hands going crazy and the concentration on his face!

Anyhow... to get to the meat of this saga, this morning he is playing Marvel Nemesis. It's a fighting game of all the Marvel characters; good and evil. It's all about good triumphing over evil or something like that. Dalton is "kicking booty" as he calls it. He comes to me, hand on hip, other hand gesturing wilding about how he is fighting this girl, and she's really hard and she keeps warping from one place to another and throwing things at him. He got her life down to just this (shows me his fingers close together telling me her life bar was small). He is getting more and more animated, explaining with sound effects how he was going about trying to defeat her. His eyes were open wide, his arms were flailing, he sound effects were getting louder and louder and Wham! It stops, and he says simply, "Momma, She's Rotten!"

I was so taken in by all the hoopla! And them WHAM~! I was laughing hysterically.I had to hide my face in my hands and laugh.

Bless his heart - he wasn't offended at all. Instead he was thrilled that he'd made me laugh so hard. What a doll! He just ran back into my scrappy space, grinning from ear to ear - "She might be rotten but she's a dead rotten now!"

Oh to be a child -