A lot going on this weekend, but before I get to any of that let's get an update on the ongoing Pokémon saga. After posting my last entry, I went to pick up Lil' S1 at school, and he was holding a binder in his hands.
"Hey, Daddy!" he exclaimed. "Check this out! I traded some of my cards for it!"
Somehow he swung a deal in which he swapped a few of his cards for an entire Pokémon binder. Most of the cards had been taken out, but not all of them, and still it was a big binder with some other kids name on it. (His "BFF" from the last post.)
"Oh jeez..." I said. "You can't keep this. Go give it back."
"Why?! I traded for it."
"I know but you can't trade for an entire binder from some other kid."
"Why not? He wanted to."
"Because I don't know if his parents were expecting him to trade his entire binder... I mean, it's got his name on it in permanent marker."
"We can just cross it off and write my name."
You gotta love the naive shamelessness of seven-year-olds. He wants to make some other kid's Pokémon collection his own. It reminds me of that scene in The Sopranos when Robert Patrick takes his son's SUV and gives it to Tony to pay off his gambling debt, and then Tony gives it to Meadow, and Meadow is wondering why she now has some other kids car.
The rightful owner of the binder was already gone for the day, and it was Friday afternoon, so we just took the folder home for the weekend. I made Lil' S1 give it back to him on Monday though. He was pretty mad about it at first, but then we got him his own folder and that cooled him off. The rest of the week elapsed without an further Pokémon incident. Let's hope that that's a trend that continues for a long time.
In other news, our downstairs is currently being occupy by our friend RB's sister and her family. They have 13-year-old twins -- a boy and a girl, but everybody thinks they're two girls. The boy has long hair, and he looks like his sister facially (they are twins after all), and they have almost identical builds, so it's not an unreasonable assumption. Lil' S1 thought they were both girls (he still calls them "the girls" even after I corrected him), and I probably would've too if I didn't already know better. They look so similar I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn't be able to keep them straight, but it's not that hard after you spend some time with them.
The boy doesn't seem to care much that people confuse him for a girl, which is good. The thing is, if you're not sure of somebody's gender, why even bring it up? There's no reason to ask if people are sisters or to use a gendered term when referring to somebody whose gender isn't blatantly obvious. There's a person who goes to my gym whose gender identity I legitimately don't know. They held the door for me the other day. Often when somebody does this for me I say "Thank you, sir" or "Thank you, ma'am" with a bit of half-joking formality. But this time I just said, "Thanks." It's not that hard.
Lil' S1 seems to really like them, and they like him -- or at least they humor him -- which is great. I think they had similar interests when they were his age. The good thing about Lil' S1 is that he's a walking, talking ice-breaker. I didn't realize what a little chatterbox he can be. He'll just start going, "Do you like Pokémon? ... Do you like Super Smash Bros.? ... Once we saw bats outside ... That's my favorite book ... Do you wanna see my safe? ... Do you like Minecraft?" And if you engage him, he will tell you the gory details of whatever the subject is. He'll explain entire plots of TV episodes and breakdown the power levels of individual Pokémon. But it's good for our present company because I think they're a bit on shyer side. I haven't seen him get on with older kids this well before. It's nice.
They are in town for the weekend for RB's wedding shower. S is heavily involved in it as well. Part of the festivities is the DC Army 10-mile run this morning. I am not doing that. I have to watch the kids (and I don't willingly wake up that early unless I'm being paid or catching a flight). The actual shower is this afternoon, and I will go to that, and then there is a bachelorette party at night, which, like the run, I will not go to. I think men are invited to it, but, again, I have to watch the kids, and I don't really want to go anyway. I don't have tomorrow off for Columbus Day like many others do, so staying out even moderately late does not sound very appealing.
After RB's family leaves, my parents will come to visit. Actually, they will come back to visit, as they were here the past few days, and then they went to Connecticut for the weekend. They're going to visit my cousins (my dad's nephew and niece) whom I've never met. They will be meeting them for the first time. Yes, I'm aware it's weird to have adult cousins you've known about pretty much your entire life, but have literally never met, but that's how it is. S says I'm a robot because I'm so ambivalent about this. But I try to explain to her the fact that I've never met them is precisely the source of my ambivalence. There was never a there there. It's just not something I ever had a chance to develop strong feelings about.
Anyway, it's nice to have people over. It's fun, and also satisfying. It's like: That's part of why we got this house, y'know. To have our family and friends stay with us. It feels nice.
Alright, I should go get dressed or get the kids dressed or something. Got a long day ahead of us.
Until next time...
"Hey, Daddy!" he exclaimed. "Check this out! I traded some of my cards for it!"
Somehow he swung a deal in which he swapped a few of his cards for an entire Pokémon binder. Most of the cards had been taken out, but not all of them, and still it was a big binder with some other kids name on it. (His "BFF" from the last post.)
"Oh jeez..." I said. "You can't keep this. Go give it back."
"Why?! I traded for it."
"I know but you can't trade for an entire binder from some other kid."
"Why not? He wanted to."
"Because I don't know if his parents were expecting him to trade his entire binder... I mean, it's got his name on it in permanent marker."
"We can just cross it off and write my name."
You gotta love the naive shamelessness of seven-year-olds. He wants to make some other kid's Pokémon collection his own. It reminds me of that scene in The Sopranos when Robert Patrick takes his son's SUV and gives it to Tony to pay off his gambling debt, and then Tony gives it to Meadow, and Meadow is wondering why she now has some other kids car.
The rightful owner of the binder was already gone for the day, and it was Friday afternoon, so we just took the folder home for the weekend. I made Lil' S1 give it back to him on Monday though. He was pretty mad about it at first, but then we got him his own folder and that cooled him off. The rest of the week elapsed without an further Pokémon incident. Let's hope that that's a trend that continues for a long time.
In other news, our downstairs is currently being occupy by our friend RB's sister and her family. They have 13-year-old twins -- a boy and a girl, but everybody thinks they're two girls. The boy has long hair, and he looks like his sister facially (they are twins after all), and they have almost identical builds, so it's not an unreasonable assumption. Lil' S1 thought they were both girls (he still calls them "the girls" even after I corrected him), and I probably would've too if I didn't already know better. They look so similar I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn't be able to keep them straight, but it's not that hard after you spend some time with them.
The boy doesn't seem to care much that people confuse him for a girl, which is good. The thing is, if you're not sure of somebody's gender, why even bring it up? There's no reason to ask if people are sisters or to use a gendered term when referring to somebody whose gender isn't blatantly obvious. There's a person who goes to my gym whose gender identity I legitimately don't know. They held the door for me the other day. Often when somebody does this for me I say "Thank you, sir" or "Thank you, ma'am" with a bit of half-joking formality. But this time I just said, "Thanks." It's not that hard.
Lil' S1 seems to really like them, and they like him -- or at least they humor him -- which is great. I think they had similar interests when they were his age. The good thing about Lil' S1 is that he's a walking, talking ice-breaker. I didn't realize what a little chatterbox he can be. He'll just start going, "Do you like Pokémon? ... Do you like Super Smash Bros.? ... Once we saw bats outside ... That's my favorite book ... Do you wanna see my safe? ... Do you like Minecraft?" And if you engage him, he will tell you the gory details of whatever the subject is. He'll explain entire plots of TV episodes and breakdown the power levels of individual Pokémon. But it's good for our present company because I think they're a bit on shyer side. I haven't seen him get on with older kids this well before. It's nice.
They are in town for the weekend for RB's wedding shower. S is heavily involved in it as well. Part of the festivities is the DC Army 10-mile run this morning. I am not doing that. I have to watch the kids (and I don't willingly wake up that early unless I'm being paid or catching a flight). The actual shower is this afternoon, and I will go to that, and then there is a bachelorette party at night, which, like the run, I will not go to. I think men are invited to it, but, again, I have to watch the kids, and I don't really want to go anyway. I don't have tomorrow off for Columbus Day like many others do, so staying out even moderately late does not sound very appealing.
After RB's family leaves, my parents will come to visit. Actually, they will come back to visit, as they were here the past few days, and then they went to Connecticut for the weekend. They're going to visit my cousins (my dad's nephew and niece) whom I've never met. They will be meeting them for the first time. Yes, I'm aware it's weird to have adult cousins you've known about pretty much your entire life, but have literally never met, but that's how it is. S says I'm a robot because I'm so ambivalent about this. But I try to explain to her the fact that I've never met them is precisely the source of my ambivalence. There was never a there there. It's just not something I ever had a chance to develop strong feelings about.
Anyway, it's nice to have people over. It's fun, and also satisfying. It's like: That's part of why we got this house, y'know. To have our family and friends stay with us. It feels nice.
Alright, I should go get dressed or get the kids dressed or something. Got a long day ahead of us.
Until next time...
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