Of Geeks and Jocks

At the tender age of 3 and a half, Abang is showing signs of becoming a geek. Firstly, he’s quite thin (although he has put on weight recently due to a sudden surge in appetite). We can already imagine him wearing a white (short sleeved) work shirt with a tie that ought to have been his dad’s and a collar so loose, he’s lucky to have his shoulders nearby to prevent it from falling off.

Secondly, his interest in computer (and computer-related) games. Ant J bought him a Leapster for his 3rd birthday and he just can’t seem to put it down now.

The first thing he says in the morning, is, “I want to play with my Leapster!” and then does it. I’m going to try to disallow him playing it in the car because not only does it prevent him from falling asleep, I also think he should be experiencing what’s outside the car more than what’s inside the microchip.

The other thing he can’t resist is to play the V-Smile game (which hooks up to a regular TV) whenever we’re at, or even near, a toy shop that has a demo unit. Honestly, one time I had to literally walk away to get him to tear himself away from the game.

Since he’s not the bravest little boy around, he hates being left alone. So the only way I could get him to stop playing the game was to give him the usual parent-approved line, “Ok, MUMMY’S GOING NOW, BYE!” and walk off. By the way, even though you’ve said that line umpteen times, you not only have to actually walk off, but stay out of his sight until he pries himself away from the game to go looking for you.

Once he has undocked from the game console, I can distract him enough at the mall to get him to move on without too much fuss.

Adik, on the other hand, is a total jock. I mean, totally. Sure, his hand-eye coordination is very good and his fine motor skills, as I’ve mentioned before, are great too.

I know that in itself doesn’t make one a jock, just well-coordinated.

However, this little boy loves to spin in his exersaucer at top speed until it makes the adults around him feel dizzy. This is also the boy who, when he first learnt to stand up on his own, would stagger on his way up and bump his head against the wall. Nothing unusual, you might say, he was just learning to stand up so surely he’d be a bit wobbly. A-ha! That’s true, but do other 11-month old boys continue bumping his head against the wall even after the first accidental episode had ended? Would other 11-month old boys do that with a grin on his face? And then get up and do it all over again after he’s fallen on his face because he’s dizzy from banging his head on the wall so much?

I don’t think so either. I guess the future Captain of the Football Team will have to protect The President of the Chess Club from any school bullies!