Pokemon or The Making of an Addict

It's been months now, about 7 months since my children have become enamored with Pokemon.  It all started at after school, when a friend of Kuba's generously gave him one Pokemon card. One.  
Just one card.

Perhaps a week after that, he got a few more handed to him.   I can't even remember the character names on the cards, but I do remember how excited Kuba was.  His excitement jumped from him to his brother, like a flea leaps to another warm body. Later that week that same generous friend (we'll call him the dealer) handed out even more of his cards - and the boys left that day with big grins on their faces and two hands clutching a dozen cards or so. Health. Damage.  The new vocabulary of Pokeman.

Not long after this, the boys begged us to take them to our neighborhood drug store, because the aforementioned dealer (ahem, friend) told them this is where he got his Pokemon stash. So we did. We willingly stepped over the threshold and into unchartered territory.

This new world belongs to playing cards with pictures of fictional creatures named Pikachu, Vanillite, Torchic, and Combee, who have a certain amount of health and can do damage to the health of other Pokemon when they battle.  To us, who are unfamiliar with the language, it's hard to understand, but it is all totally sensible to the boys and their friends.  They love to read the cards, trade the cards, compare the cards, sort the cards, drool over the cards, and build their desire for more- more- even more rectangular cards with pictures of the weirdest, cutest? little creatures ever.  

The spin out of control order went something like this:

1 Pokemon card
a few Pokemon cars 
12 Pokemon cards
a deck of Pokemon cards
a second deck
a box to keep them in
searching for more and cheaper Pokemon - even free Pokemon from neighbors
buying decks on ebay (with allowance $) 
needing a binder and clear plastic card sorting pages to keep them in (with allowance $) 
sorting them by color, theme, and stage
learning new words - like Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2
buying a Pokemon handbook  at Barnes and Noble
(with allowance $)
getting a second book (with allowance $) 
getting a deluxe Pokemon handbook as a birthday gift from a fellow addict 
discovering Pokemon shows on Netflix
needing to watch them - in order, one show at a time
inventing a Pokemon sighting game and playing it with each other nonstop
acting out Pokemon
making lists of the Pokemon each boy "spotted" and acquired in the aforementioned invented and imaginative game
the Easter bunny steps in & gifts the boys a stuffed Pokemon each - Pikachu and Torchic and about 100 tiny Pokemon figures
renewed enthusiasm for Pokemon
an expanded Family meeting that now involves giving and getting appreciations for/from Pikachu and Torchic

This brings us to the current day.  With about 200 Pokemon cards, assorted teeny tiny plastic Pokemon, two plush Pokemon stuffies - oh, and two adorable Pokemon junkies.  



I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Nothing and Everything

For about a week now at bedtime, I've been telling the boys stories with the common theme of "nothing."  Some have been short, some have been long, some have been funny, others just plain old weird, but all of them have had nothing in them.  We've done rounds of stories, all of us taking a turn and telling a story with the common thread of "nothing."  We haven't gotten tired of this yet. 

Well tonight, Anna put the boys to bed and she continued the theme.  Here is her story:

One day, a mother took her son to a door, opened it, and yelled, "Surprise!"  The boy looked around the big empty room and then back at her with a puzzled look on his face and said, "The room is empty, there is nothing in here." 

She looked at her son and said - "It's either nothing or it's everything."  Her son didn't understand. 

She took him on a journey to visit a wise man.  They walked for two days and two nights, they climbed over two hills until they reached the old man's house.  He welcomed the boy into his home and when the boy came through the door, he looked around and saw that the room was empty except for a straw mat on the floor in the middle of the room.  The boy was invited to sit down and he sat across from the old man on the straw mat.  The old man looked at the boy and said "Look around this room, you can have anything you want."  The boy looked at the old man and said, "There is nothing in here, except a straw mat, you, and me."    "Well, said the old man, it is either nothing or it is everything."  The boy looked again confused, so the old man continued.  "If you wanted a pet monkey, or one hundred golden rings, or a bowl of bananas, you could look around this room and say it has nothing, because it doesn't have the things you want.  If there is always something that you want that you don't have, you'll always have nothing.   But if you came into this room wanting nothing, then everything you want is here.  It is in wanting nothing that you have everything."

The boy and his mother returned home.  His mother led him back to the room, opened the door and yelled "Surprise!"  The boy looked around and he noticed a window on one wall that was low down to the ground.  If he laid on his belly and looked out the window, he could see a stream with koi fish right beside the house.  He could hear the trickle of water.  When he looked at the other wall there was a tall vertical window, and if he stood in just the right place, he could see the peak of a tall mountain covered in snow.  When he walked over and touched the other two walls that were made of bamboo, he could feel the smooth bumps of the growth rings along the warm wood.   He looked at his mother and said "Thank you for everything."

Anna left the boys after the story to fold laundry.  When she returned a bit later and kissed them goodnight, Kuba called her back as she was leaving.  Anna leaned over to him and he whispered to Anna - "I have everything." 

He asked Anna if this was a real story or a made up one and she told him it was made up.  He told her it was so good she should it share it and maybe she would become president. 

Nothing more to add.        

Red, White and Blue - Even in the Winter

C o p p e r: Like Father, Like Son

My dad was an electrician.  So is my brother.  Recently when my brother was visiting he brought some copper wire along with him to skin.  He collects it in 5 gallon containers and then sells it - just like my father used to.  Except my dad did it all by hand, and my brother has a nifty skinning machine that he wanted to show my dad.  My father spent a ton of his free time skinning wire, selling wire, and then used the money to take take my mom on vacation.    I had forgotten how much a part of my life history this was until I saw my brother and he showed me this photo.  My dad would always be skinning leftover wire and putting it into buckets just like these.  This is my brother's cache.  I wonder where he's planning to go on vacation?    

My Little Panda

Kuba and a few of his classmates performed a short play today at school.  They wrote it and titled it  Panda in the Mountains.  His friend, Gus, is a real panda lover and inspired all of them to help create and act in a skit about a mama and baby panda.   I love the boys' school and the multiple opportunities they have to be creative.   

Strings All Weekend

Anders had a busy weekend playing his violin.   First he played Queen's We Will We Will Rock You with an assorted bunch of kids as the finale at his school's rock and roll fundraiser.  It was a big event for our school and most of the money raised supports the schools music programs.  The next day Anders played in an orchestra, although this was a classical concert and way more formal.  BOTH awesome, both fun, both exciting and both concerts that made me feel so damn proud of him.  Plus, he looked so handsome!!

Click here to see the rock-n-roll video

Reading with Friends

A Mardi Gras Kinda Day

We Sea You