These are my boys. From left to right, Michael is 11, he is my step-son. In the middle is Kooper, 10, and on the right is Kamden, the baby who is 7. When they get together on a Friday night it is what can only be described as pandemonium. I thought about capitalizing that, but the definition when the word is capitalized is Hell. And while it can be that on occasion, mostly it is just wild uproarious behavior. Michael is gifted, Kooper is ADD and Kamden is highly gifted and ADHD. So you could say that boredom is a constant, and that keeping them entertained is a 24/7 job. We try to make the most of every minute that Micahel is with us. He loves being here and we don't want him to feel like he gets left out of family functions when he is with his mom. As you can probably gather from the boys shirts, video games are pretty important to them. They love, love, love video games of any flavor. We have a ridiculous, and I really mean ridiculous amount of electronics in this house. Each time we acquire a new gadget I think to myself..."self, this has got to stop. just quit already. enough is enough." Then I put that shiny new object on the counter and jump for joy at my new toys. The boys new toys. My husbands new treasures. I know, I know...I should stop. I can't. I have to have them. Let me tell you how bad it is, then you can tell me that therapy is in order. We own a PS2(third one I think, the others died), a Wii, an XBox360(third iteration of that one as well), and two PS3s. You heard me right, I said two. But really, they are Blu-Ray players and that is the reason for two. When I purchased the second one it was only $50 bucks more to get the game system than the DVD player so why not? Oh yeah, we also have 4 Nintendo DS Lites, a DSi, three iPods, and an iTouch, two home computers, three laptops, HD receivers in three rooms of the house and three flat panel televisions that are at least 37" or larger.
So, I know that we have a problem with regard to our "obsession" with electronics but there is some good that has come from having to have them. Kamden is a little computer "genius". He has a real gift. He has already begun to make movies on our home pc. Additionally, he learned to read playing games on the computer. I like computer games. The word games, puzzle games and any picture in picture game I can find. Kamden started playing the picture in picture games with me as soon as he was old enough to figure out what the pictures were. By the time he was three, he was already associating pictures and words. Now he reads everything. His vocabulary is something else. His teacher last year said she had never had a student in all her 30 years of teaching that had such an accomplished vocab, and was also able to put words in alphabetical order at the second, third, fourth letters and so on. For example: most 1st graders can put apples before books, Kamden knows that able comes before apple, and further can alphabetize back, bait, bake, bead, beat...and so on.
I have heard my fair share of criticism on the playing of video games and content. Believe me, everyone has an opinion on this one. Two years ago on Black Friday, I was standing in line at 4:00am at Sam's Club for my chance to finally get the Wii. I had been in multiple lines throughout the entire year searching for my chance to pick one up. This was my last chance to make sure Santa was able to get that one thing that was on all our kids lists. The lady in front of me and I got to chatting because we had time to kill waiting for the store to open. She was also getting a Wii for her son, 15, who she told me had never been allowed to play video games in the past. She was going on and on about the evils of video games and how she was not raising couch potato children and how terrible people were for allowing their children to play them for hours on end, and blah, blah, blah... She said she was finally going to allow this system because it was interactive and required you to get off the couch. I listened to her droning on and on and it made that hour long wait, in the freezing cold seem forever longer than it was. When she finished her soap box rant I simply said "My children have all the systems.' I smiled politely, I guess it was more of a smirk, and told her "I believe that everything in moderation was o.k." I balance exercise and the outdoors with things that they enjoy. Anyway, she is only one of many who shared their "unapproval" with me.
So back to the kiddos. This is Mykenna, aka Kenna, aka Sissy. She will be 18 in just a few weeks. She started her senior year yesterday. OMG! I am getting so old I can't even believe it. This one is also quite the little smarty pants. She has a class load this year that is so stacked it isn't funny. AP Calculus, AP Art History, AP Literature, AP Economics/Government, Law Studies and Court Procedures, and an elective history class called Sixties Studies, which basically is the Vietnam War. Craziness right? She wants to be a CSI investigator or work as a profiler for the FBI. We shall see. College may find her going in another direction, almost everyone I know changed majors.
So, that is my bunch. Our his, hers and ours bunch. We are a bunch of misfits and we love it that way. We all have nicknames and will answer to almost anything....here is just a sampling.
Adrien: Big Daddy Cain, Daddy, Master Daddy
Me: Mommalicious, Hot Mama, Mom, Momzilla
Michael: Michaelangelo
Kooper: Koopster, Crapper John, Lydee-Bo, Bo-Bo, Peanutbutter, PB, Koop and Buddy-Roe
Kamden: Kamalamadingdong, Cranberry Melonhead, Cranberry, Kamee, Jelly, Jellybelly, Christina
Mykenna: Kenna, Sissy, Myke Jones, Lucee, Ken, Missy Muffet and Mickalena
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