Our fort
Today was an interesting day. I had planned on spending the day in my normal manner. Ever since Jenn and I had gotten married, I’ve spent the majority of my Saturdays in the same way. I wake up, hopefully before eleven, and begin to clean the house. Afterward that’s done, I usually spend the afternoon playing my latest video game, only taking the necessary breaks. Today, however, was different.
My uncle, Arthur, has been in the hospital for a few days at this point. Today, he had an important surgery that, if successful, could extend his life. My cousin, Jessica, wanted to be at the hospital in support of her father-in-law. With Paul, her husband at work, she needed someone to watch her daughter, Isabell, and her son, Maciah. Jenn and I volunteered. I was eager to spend the day with them, (even if it meant giving up my video game time) because I wanted to some practice entertaining kids for an extended period of time.
The day turned out to be really fun. I was nervous that Jenn and I would be boring because we are not what you would call “active” people, especially now that Jenn is pregnant. I wasn’t sure if Isabell and Maciah would want to go home after being here for only a few minutes. Ordinarily, I would have just expected Brandon to pick up the slack but he had to leave for work. So it was up to Jenn and I to make sure these kids had fun.
As soon as they arrived, Jenn and I looked at them and asked them what they wanted to do. We tried to offer some of the more active right away, like going to a park or playing outside. Instead, the first thing they both wanted to do was watch a movie. Inside, I was relieved. As I have written about multiple times, I am a huge movie buff. So this was something that was right up my alley.
As we scanned the Netflix Instant Watch list for something to watch, we came across something that I had already decided would one of the first things I would introduce to my girls: “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. I explained to them what it was and they both said they were curious enough to watch it. I was ecstatic and quickly loaded it up. I was especially interested to see what Isabell’s reaction would be.
Having not grown up with sisters, I am not quite sure what young girls are into. My only information (like most things) comes from what I have seen on television and movies. So I wasn’t sure if a show that didn’t include princesses or copious amounts of the color pink would interest her. It turns out I shouldn’t have been worried. She was very into the show,asking questions about the characters and otherwise paying rapt attention to the screen. This was a great way to start our time together.
The rest of the day was just as much fun. We spent of our time indoors by their choice. (In the words of Isabell, it was “too hot outside”.) A good portion of our time was spent playing video games. I had downloaded the demo version of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”and they had seen me playing it the last time they were over our house. After we watched an episode of Avatar and the movie, “The Iron Giant”, Isabell asked if she could watch me play it. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than I was up and grabbing a controller.
Jenn, Isabell, Macaih and I played video games for the next hour or so. After Isabell and Macaih got a chance to play through the demo level, they both wanted to play Rock Band. We all took turns rocking out on the drums and guitar, playing through the various songs they knew. Once again, one of my biggest anxieties as a father was slightly alleviated. I at least had circumstantial evidence that a girl could be as into video games as I am.
Once Brandon came home from work, Jenn and I felt like we needed to get everyone out of the house for a while. So we decided to walk to take Puck and get ourselves candy from the Dollar Store, pizzas from Little Ceaser’s, and Icees from the Quick Stop. It turns that Macaih and Jenn move at the same pace. Of course, Macaih’s reason is because of the length of his legs while Jenn’s is because of…well, the girls.
Post-dinner, we decided to finish out the night, alternating between watching movies and playing Scott Pilgrim (the same level over and over again.) We built a fort for Isabell, Macaih and I to hang out in ( even though Puck tried to destroy it). The time until Jessica arrived seemed to fly by. Today gave me hope that fatherhood was not something that would be completely foreign to me.
