I am not sure Bam will be sufficed until I start playing Minecraft. He will spend hours enthusiastically talking to anyone with an ear about his current passion, and I mean anyone. One time, being the master builder than he is, he built an airplane-submarine-car-in-one with is legos and talked to every passing person while in Trader Joe's. I think the most hilarious was how he was trying to sell his own enthusiasm to an elderly couple there. Or there was the time I was trying on shoes at Nordstrom -- he talked Minecraft to the salesman, and even followed him around to other customers to upkeep the [practically one person] conversation. Now you know those guys work on a commission and I felt so terrible; but, confession: I also felt relieved.
The trend lately has stuck to Minecraft. He must really like it because the passions otherwise switch quite often. Since it has stayed on Minecraft, sometimes my days feel like the movie Groundhog Day. It's the same ole cooking and cleaning and changing diapers, and now let's add the same amount of hours of the same ole discussion topic. Sometimes the only thing that changes in one day is Elisha's clothes and my clothes, because Amira (being the skater she is) and Bam (being a 6 year old boy) will even remain in the same clothes day to day if I let them. Now I talk about many standards for myself as a woman that seem to no longer be as I gain more children and my children gain more age, but let it never be that my standards about my daily changing of clothes be diminished! Oh someone come babysit these kids if ever.
Back to Minecraft. He will follow me around and talk about krakens and wither skulls, and I'm thinking, "What is a kraken?" Here comes little-boy-busy, in all excitement, replying, "I can show you!" Huh. Well, after watching a 16 minute You Tube Minecraft video just for him to show me what a wither skull was, I wasn't eager to dive in for another sixteen for the kraken. Just 2 seconds on Google and this Mommy can move right along with lending the ear for the kraken obsession, which in turn saves me 16 more minutes from my busy schedule.
Apparently there is a legend of a giant sea monster, looking like an octopus, dwelling in the Greenland/Norway coasts. This is the kraken, although from what I gathered in Bam's sales pitch it sounds like Minecraft's version is more like a squid. Someone please tell me I heard the boy correctly.
I was just thinking, which I spend much time doing during these hours-long chat, that I would be a better listener if I applied the speech to my reality. It is even better if I can apply it to my reality at that moment. I mean, we already do this with sermons right? Give it a try with me. For example, I can share the enthusiasm and give real excited replies when, in the midst of his talking and my cleaning, I think about what I could do with a kraken. How cool it must be to have so many arms to do so much. I would train my kraken. Hey, if you can train a dragon, why not a kraken? With 4 times the arms as me, could folding laundry get 4 times faster? How about extending the vacuum hose up to get cobwebs -- how awesome are the long arms of a kraken and the tentacles on those long arms for easy suctioning? I could say goodbye to my vacuum if I only had a kraken. I especially think of my time spent this morning scrubbing mini blinds. Oh awesome kraken, where were you then? I needed a plumbing snake recently -- could have called the kraken.
I'm 'kraken' myself up over here, having fell for a 6-year old's sales pitch on a legendary animal. I've spent enough time talking about imaginary help, I should get to the real help. Amira is such a help. I was showered and halfway through my Shabbat prepping by the 10 o'clock hour because she cuddled the babe, who will sleep hours if she is swaddled and cuddled. She helped with the other half of prepping as I was limited to what I could do while nursing the baby in the pack carrier. She even ran the late movie back up to the library this morning. I feel better utilizing her help when I tell myself it is training in responsibility, courtesy, and raising a family.
As far as the boy, well I need a kraken just to keep with all his messy doings and undoings, let alone get some sort of physical help from him. I ask him to go do something and on the way to do it he gets distracted. There could be nothing but a white padded cell between him and the task I put before him and he would be the one to find something entertaining about a white padded cell. He did wipe off the tops of the heaters this morning, but other than that it is an accomplishment alone if he cleans up his messes. Since he is a walking tornado (and I mean that -- he even often gives the motions of one, twirling and spinning in circles everywhere he goes), cleaning up after himself is an all-day event. You know that B.O.R.E.D. list of options you give your kids when they say they are bored? With Bam it doesn't have to be so. I have often found myself saying, whenever I see him idle, "Go clean up your mess," and it seems to be a safe thing to say to him. Not having seen a mess, I know there is one; and he confirms me by saying, "Okay." There is always a Bam mess to clean, and a Bam to keep up with.
Obviously having spent almost a whole blog article on his current obsession, I have proof that I kept up with the krakens; but alas, some new sounds coming from Bam have made it to my ears: thumping and chopping in the living room. Oh no, please don't tell me it's "keeping up with the karate kid" time.
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