Bakugans, etc.

In the old days (when I was a kid) we used to play cards after dinner, either group solitaire (we all could play on each others' Aces), or Yahtzee, or whatever. Today the Richardson family also engaged in a post-dinner game: Bakugan.

I'm not going to look too deeply into the origins of this game, and odds are even if I did, it wouldn't match up with whatever it was we did. Basically, the Bakugans are little plastic toys that fold into a spheroid shape, and pop out when striking the floor or some other object with enough force, taking the shape of some sort of dragon or other fantastic creature. Jack has one the size of a baseball (in spheroid form) and a bunch about the size of a ping pong. And those were what we played with this evening.

As Jack instructed, the four of us sat down on the living room floor ("criss cross applesauce?" suggested Kate hopefully). We selected our Bakugan, and Jack explained the rules. He would say "Go!" and we'd roll our little spheres forward. I found that he was holding his longer than I was, plus he was saying something garbled as he rolled it. I asked him about it. "You have to say their name," he said, and added "Mine is Dragonoid!" I said, but I don't know what mine's name is.

Jack looked at it. "You have Aquirian." Huh? "Aquirian. Aqua Arian. Aquarian!" OK, I said.

We rolled again, and again. Jack explained who won after each throw. "Mommy and I both won. Kate, you lose. Daddy, you win too." Kate: "I want to win!!!!" Daddy: Kate, I bet you'll win next time. (She didn't, but Mommy made her think she'd thrown one that DID win, so she was happy.) "I win. Daddy and Mommy win. OK, now everyone take a different one...."

At one point, Kate wanted to be in charge. Jack protested, because it was HIS game, after all, but we convinced him to grudgingly let her lead one turn. She got in front and beamed, then said, "OK, when I say 'Go,' you..." I threw mine. You said go, I explained. She said, "No!!!!" But she was laughing. And she gave it back to me. And said, "You only throw it when I say 'go'..." And we all threw ours. And there was lots of silly, goofy laughter.

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I put Jack to bed, and he was philosophical. "What's the most important part of the body?" And I said, well, the brain, I guess, because it controls everything. Or maybe the heart, because it sends the blood around to everywhere in your body. He said, "what about your legs?" And I said, well, the brain tells them what to do...and the heart sends blood there so they can do it. And he said, "Oh, yeah." Then: "Oh, and the brain is also important, because it's how you THINK." And I said, right.

And he said, "OH, and if you didn't have a heart you couldn't love, right?" And I said, right, Jack.

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I thought he was asleep, when he said, "And the least important part is the belly button."