the children are playing

looking back now, i guess we looked kind of cute, or funny--a young girl taking care of a little baby boy. but nevertheless, i have always enjoyed being a mom.

when my son wakes up from his afternoon siesta, we would watch sesame street and the electric company together (actually, both shows are also aired at 9:00-10:00 in the morning). i am not sure if he understood what he was watching then but i was having the time of my life. you see, i was just a kid myself.

when he was around 7 (or 8?), i realized he played the family computer better than i do. correction... a whole lot better. the truth of the matter was, it was me who played like a seven-year old. commando & battle city were our favorites because they were two-player games (meaning, i can play too...!). other times, i would just watch him play mario and secretly wonder where he learned to do all that keypad/joystick manipulation. certainly not from me... and neither from his dad.

commando's default player had only three lives, but we learned a trick for both players to have thirty. keypad press: up-up, down-down, left-right, left-right, B-A, select, start. towards the middle of the game would find us squabbling over who gets the ammunition called "spread". sometimes the fixation over that particular ammo would end up with my player leaving his player (or vice versa) and thus get killed.

with battle city, we fight over who gets the "stars" which transforms our player tanks to hard metal, making it resistant to other tank's ammo. unlike in commando where we leave each other's player behind to die, battle city ends with our tanks blasting and firing at each other. now wait just one minute... did i mention i was playing with my son here?

but there was one afternoon that will always remain special to both of us. i remember that day in particular because it happened to be our town fiesta. not wanting to socialize with relatives who pick on me by rendering endless monologues for marrying so young, my 3-year old and i spent the whole day locked in our bedroom. for his amusement (and mine), we made a colorful paper plate monster... a big-mouth puppet... a jack-in-the-box... a dancing clown puppet... a jumping jack... paper cups you can actually use without spillage... a paper bag monster... paper crowns, paper boats & planes...

my son is now father to a little girl whom i totally adore. i am not sure if my eyes can still see clearly when she's old enough to play video games, but i'm definitely not going to quibble with her over who gets what. but i am looking forward to spending even just one very special afternoon with her making a colorful paper plate monster... a big-mouth puppet... a jack-in-the-box... a dancing clown puppet... a jumping jack... paper cups you can actually use without spillage... a paper bag monster... paper crowns, paper boats & planes... and while we're at it, i am thinking of teaching her how to make a kite... and then fly one.