The Person Most Interested

Nicky is at an age where he is starting to take interest in things that I am also interested in. This is great because sometimes I get to watch movies or shows that I like instead of PBS Kids and Dora over and over and over. It's refreshing to have a little buddy who likes some of the same things I do.

Nicky recently discovered the joy of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. He was so excited when he answered his first Jeopardy clue. It's rare that we can actually sit down and watch together, but when we do, it's a blast! (I need to remember to stay quiet during these game shows and give Nicky a chance to figure things out, but it's so hard! I'm an answer hog! If I know the answer, I can't keep quiet or I'll die of a twitching fit).

When Nicky heard me talking about going to see The Giver, he became very curious about it. He asked me several times if I would let him watch it, and it's a movie that I feel good about my kids seeing (with some follow-up discussion), so I told him he could watch it when it came to Redbox. I knew most of it would go right over his head (and it did), but I loved watching it with him and explaining the story and the themes to him. Nicky was thrilled because he got to watch a PG-13 movie (he's a little obsessed with movie ratings right now).

Several months ago, Nicky and I watched The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe together. It's hard for me to sit back and just watch a movie with my kids when there is something much bigger to the story than they can comprehend on their own. I paused the movie at least a dozen times to ask Nicky questions like, "Why do you think Mr. Tumnus betrayed Lucy to the White Witch?" and "Who else can you think of who died to save other people like Aslan?" He was so great to go along with it, and he never once complained that I kept interrupting the show.

Shortly after that, Nicky started asking me about the Lord of the Rings. He's always been intrigued with LOTR, and I've always told him that he can watch the movies when he's older. Scotty and I were planning to watch them, and Nicky knew, so he kept asking and asking if he could watch them with us. We decided to let him try it out, but first we explained to him that there are a lot of scary-looking creatures in the movies, so we made him promise that if he felt scared that he would tell us and be brave enough to stop watching. I really didn't think he'd make it very far into the movies before he got scared. Nicky has always been very afraid of everything on TV and in movies - to this day, he will not watch Toy Story 3 because it's too scary, and yet, he watched most of all three LOTR movies without flinching. I thought, "Wow! He is being so brave during these movies, but tonight he's going to come into our room sobbing!" We watched the movies over the span of a month, and he didn't get scared once! Orcs? Goblins? Giant spiders? They've got nothin' on Nicky. But toys in a trash incinerator? Nightmares for WEEKS! I don't get it. But I'm so glad I got to watch LOTR with my son (even though most of the story went over his head, and he asked me no less than a hundred times who Frodo was).

Nicky is also showing an aptitude for board games. A few months ago I bought Rummikub thinking it would be a good game for Nicky to learn. I taught him how to play, and he plays pretty well. We've also taught him the basics of Quirkle (without keeping score) and Ticket to Ride (with lots of help). He used some of his birthday money to buy Super Big Boggle. He's getting to the point where he's no longer going to be content playing with his friends on game night - he's going to start trying to infiltrate our system! I need to be prepared for this!

I often look at Nicky and wonder, "Where did this kid come from?" He asks me about the books I'm reading and about every show I watch. He asks about my school assignments and my plans for dinner. I never expected that the person most interested in my life would be my eight-year-old son. I hope he stays this way, and I hope we can share many more interests in the years to come.