Get in the Game!

Today, Troy and I got a special treat. We got to play video games with my brother CC for his birthday. We were playing Diablo 3, a role-playing game in which you build characters to fight against the demons of hell. We were humming along, destroying evil monsters in droves, when all of a sudden, Troy screamed out, “Get in the game, Uncle Chris!” I searched the screen to find my brother and saw him standing off to the side motionless. He replied over the phone, “I’m just changing my weapon. I’ll be there in a sec.” Troy was not pacified by this. “The battle will be over in a second! Just pick something already and get in here!”

I couldn’t stop laughing. Partly because my son is so cheeky. And partly because I used to say the same thing to CC when we played together. He was always holding things up by spending inordinate amounts of time looking at the junk in his inventory. Like father, like son, I guess.

Ice Dancing

The sleet and snow finally stopped falling yesterday, so Troy and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to see the damage. The sidewalks were still pretty much frozen over in glistening sheets of frosty ice. We tried our best to walk on them, but in several places it was so slick that we ended up just sliding across them. Troy had his arms out, trying to keep his balance, and he looked like an ice skater. Not to enjoy the danger alone, he grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the frictionless surface too. So, the two of us went sliding across the ice together, him backwards and me forwards. We looked like ice dancers. It was so much fun.

Meh

My son is completely apathetic. I’m not sure when he became that way, but he absolutely doesn’t care about how other people feel or how his behavior affects them. I told him today that we were late, and his response was, “Yeah, I know.” Then, he proceeded to sit on the floor, waiting for me to tell him what to do next.

I don’t expect him to appreciate all that I do around here for my family. I mean, his mother doesn’t even do that. But it would be nice if he would not add to my burden or intentionally stress me out just to see how long I can go before I explode. He used to be very empathetic and attuned to how people were feeling. He hated to see people upset or in distress. He was a comforter. But not anymore…at least not with me. He doesn’t care if I have a headache, or if I’m sick, or if I’m stressed, or if I’m angry, or even if I’m disappointed. He’s just like “meh.” He’ll take the tongue lashing and go about his day without even flinching. Or he’ll ask more and more of me while all the while doing less and less for me. He’s no help at all anymore. If you ask him to do something, then he complains nonstop until you’re so frustrated that you just want him to go somewhere else. He complained that life wasn’t happy anymore, but I think he’s a big cause of that.

Kumon

I have run out of ways to help Troy progress in his reading. I feel like his progress has stalled. We’re still reading together every day, but he seems content to struggle through sounding words out rather than challenging himself to memorize the vocabulary, so he can recognize words by sight. So, we decided to take him to Kumon for help. Several of his friends had used this place as a bridge between preschool and kindergarten with success, and we’re hoping that Troy will get the help he needs too. At the very least maybe they can find a new way to keep him motivated and moving forward. Today was his first day, so I guess we’ll see how it goes.

UPDATE: So, the plan is apparently to take two steps back to take one step forward. They step back to build his confidence and strength in more foundational areas, so he doesn't get discouraged when tackling more advanced areas. He'll go to Kumon twice a week, so he has an instructor to explain how things work and guide him on what they're looking for. The rest of the week, he'll be sent homework activities through the iPad to work on at home and reinforce what they discussed in the facility.

Since he was already going, we decided to sign him up for Math as well. At the very least, we were hoping to get him ahead of schedule on the Math, so that it's one less thing for him to worry about. The focus in Math is for him to get to a point where he can recognize common problems like 2+3 or 6+4 on sight and know the answer without having to count it out in his head. The idea is that having these foundational things being muscle memory will better prepare him for advanced Maths like Algebra later on. This is not how they approach it in school, where it's not important how you arrive at the answer as long as you get the correct answer. They also don't care as much in school, because technology is so readily available to assist you.

Finding God in The Lord of the Rings

Troy: “Dada, can you guess my favorite character from The Lord of the Rings?”
Me: “I don’t know. Sam?”
Troy: “No, who’s that?”
Me: “The hobbit.”
Troy: “Oh, no.”
Me: “The Ents?”
Troy: “Who’s that?”
Me: “The tree shepherds.”
Troy: “No.”
Me: “Gollum?”
Troy: “No, he’s creepy.”
Me: “Then, I give up. Who is your favorite character?”
Troy: “The giant eye.”
Me: “Sauron? But he’s a bad guy!”
Troy: “So?! He’s cool looking.”
Me: “Did you know that he represents the Devil?”
Troy: “Really?”
Me: “Yeah, he’s like this invisible force that commands the forces of darkness. You feel his presence, his eye upon you, but you can’t really see him. Besides, you think Gollum is creepy, but not Sauron?”
Troy: “Gollum is too creepy.”
Me: “Well, what about Smeagol?”
Troy: “Who’s that?”
Me: “Gollum’s good side.”
Troy: “Why did Gollum have a good side and bad side?”
Me: “He represents the duality of man. We all have a good side and a bad side. And we are constantly at war with them inside us. Which one wins, the one we give in to, will define who we are.”
Troy: “How did he get that way?”
Me: “Like us, he was tempted by sin. The ring of power represents sin. It tempts us to give into our dark side, and the longer we keep it in our lives, the more it distorts us. Until all we have left is the dark side. You see it throughout the movie. People are constantly being tempted and corrupted by the ring. Some resist, the pure of hearts, but most are dragged down by it.”
Troy: “What about that hobbit that carried the ring?”
Me: “Frodo? The ring changed him too, but he was trying to destroy the ring…to rid the world of its evil and temptation.”
Troy: “And losing his finger in the process?”
Me: “Yes, he lost his finger. That shows us that having sin in our lives always exacts a price. We can’t walk away unscathed. Sin always has consequences. It always changes us.”

The Speed of Bears

Troy: “Dada, are sloth bears fast or slow?”
Me: “Well, they’re bears, so I wouldn’t say they’re slow, but they’re probably not the fastest bears. I mean probably not as fast as say a grizzly bear.”
Troy: “Then, how do they catch food?”
Me: “Bears eat all kinds of things. Berries, nuts, fish, and an occasional deer or rabbit maybe.”
Troy: “And honey! Sloth bears like honey. I learned that from A Jungle Book.”
Me: “Yes, and honey. Winnie the Pooh liked honey too, but that’s not my point. You see, with bears, it’s all about energy conservation. It takes a lot of energy to be a bear and go romping around the forest all day. So, they’re not going to expend a lot of energy chasing a deer or rabbit if they don’t have to. They might use more energy than they got back. That’s why fish are such a nice meal. They just have to stand there and let the fish fly up and slap them in the face.”
Troy: “Do bears eat other bears?”
Me: “Sometimes. If they’re very hungry or if they’re protecting their territory or their babies. But it’s not their preferred meal.”
Troy: “Do other animals eat their own kind?”
Me: “Do you mean is there a chicken out there eating other chickens or a cow eating a hamburger?”
Troy [laughing]: “Exactly! Like a cow eating a hamburger or a pig eating bacon.”
Me: “Well, not intentionally. I mean cows are vegetarians, so they’re not exactly going to the drive-thru for a Whataburger like we do.”
Troy [laughing]: “Can you imagine that?! A cow at the drive-thru?!”
Me: “I think it’s more likely to see a bear at Long John Silver’s eating triangle fish. Don’t tell me that wouldn’t be the greatest day of your life to see a bear at Long John Silver’s, wearing one of those paper pirate hats and chowing down on fish.”
Troy: “Maybe.”
Me: “Definitely!”

Consequences

Troy: “Where’s my baby pillow?”
Me: “It’s downstairs on the couch where you left it. Maybe you can go get it. Aaannnddd by the time you get back, I’ll be asleep.”
Troy: “Dada! Wake up!”
Me: “I’m soooo tired.”
Troy [walking out of the room]: “When I get back there will be consequences!”
Me [laughing]: “Sometimes I wish you had a film crew following you around, so I could have moments like that on tape. That was hilarious!"

I Am Groot!

My mother and son were playing a game together today, and I heard this from the other room.

Troy: “I am Groot.”
Gammy [deeper voice]: “I am Groot.”
Troy: “I am Groot!”
Gammy [deeper voice]: “I am Groooot.”
Troy: “I AM Groot!”
Gammy [deeper voice]: “I am Groot.”

Yeah, so that happened. It had to be the strangest conversation that I’ve ever heard.