Gaming

Ben turns seven in about three weeks so I asked him to make a list of what he wanted for his birthday. I told him that if he didn't want to, I'd just tell all the grandparents to donate to his college savings account. The list appeared soon after. He's on a major Pokémon kick right now, so I knew that would play a major role, but was surprised to see that his first two requests were along the same lines as his Christmas list from last year. Many parents are much nicer than me, because all I have to say is, "keep dreamin' kiddo."

He's a major media addict, so there's no way we're getting him his own device. He's still bereft that Andy deleted Angry Birds off his phone and the whole time my brother was in town he begged Rikker to let him play games on his phone. Ben always wanted to ride with Rikker whenever we went somewhere and at first I thought it was because he adored his uncle and little cousin. Reality: He wanted to have a better chance of playing games while they drove.

So I've been thrilled that he started making his own Beyblades out of Legos. Real ones are little metal top-like toys that you spin and use to "battle" other people. As I understand it, whichever Beyblade is spinning the longest wins, and they can bash into each other to knock out the competition. He's very creative and figured out how to correctly weight the pieces and which ones to use to spin the best.

An assortment of his Beyblades that we played with this afternoon. After that it was Connect Four and on to CandyLand, Lucy's new favorite game. She carries the cards around and calls them her "Pokémons." Either those or Go Fish cards. Oh, the sway that older siblings hold on younger ones.

Were there any toys you coveted or games you played to copy your older siblings?

My older sister was, in my 5-year-old opinion, the world's best colorer so I always tried to copy her technique. She neatly outlined all the edges and then lightly shaded the interiors, never veering outside the lines. I look back now and can see that it was just a manifestation of her perfectionist/Type A tendencies. (Love you Nan!) :) To this day, the woman's closet is the most organized of any I've seen. And to think, it all started with the Strawberry Shortcake coloring books.