The Being Game

I don't actually recall where the name came from, though I vaguely remember confusing the word 'being' with 'bean' and trying like crazy to figure out what the kids meant when they said they wanted to play the 'bean game'. So speech wise that would have to put us back to about Eme 3ish, Grayson 4ish.

Since that time I don't believe there has been a single day that has gone by that I haven't heard someone say "Let's play the being game".

What is the being game you ask? It is the act of 'being' some character and then playing together as that character. Actually a very simple game, no rules, anyone can play (and often are recruited even when they don't want to) regardless of age, size, gender, etc. And no two times are the same, very little disagreements, and the kids could spend all day doing it, and it can be played anywhere anytime. Gee if I could only market this idea....

Yes it can be incredibly boring and tedious at times, though sad to say nowadays when the kids recruit me, they chose my character for me and all but hand me a script, which makes it very easy and mindless for me as I try and get stuff around the house done (and generally after about 10 minutes they give up on my character or some misfortune happens to it (captured, ill, etc., though often enough it's something good like a vacation, taking a nap, etc).

I wish I had kept better track of the characters over the year, as they change more often than the kids take baths (which in this household is quite often). When they were into dinosaurs it we were dinos. When we read "Skippy Jon Jones" we were characters from that. After the Dicken's Faire we were Dicken's characters. After movies, books, stories, just about anything - as one can only imagine how much that can add up to with 4 kids. Some of the more favorite subjects of mine get a little carried away as I parlay my love of sewing and crafts into costumes for the kids.

Lately we've had a lot of Super Mario Brothers Characters (Grayson toddler Luigi or Bowser Jr., Eme Yoshi, Anna Toad, Neve one of Bowser's Minions, Me Princess Peach, etc).

The Mario has been one of the longest phases we've had for awhile, and I am looking forward to it going away. Since I have avoided making costumes here, the kids have had me print out thousand (probably only a slight exaggeration) pictures of their characters, which then we "laminate" with contact paper and they set up entire worlds in which to interact within. I actually had to limit the amount of pictures to "picture of the day" otherwise the entire day from sun up to sun down would be spent me googling their ideas to find as many pictures as the could.

I feel/fear that my peers must think that we play video games 24/7 (instead of the super limited weekend only schedule we follow).

This last week Paul started reading "The Hobbit" to the 3 older (really only Grayson and Eme follow along, Anna gets the Cliff Note version from them). For the first time in awhile I find myself in a phase that I really enjoy. Eme is Bilbo Baggins (and already prepping to be Frodo as they started the first in the LOTR trilogy tonight). She was given an absolutely perfect green robe that gives depth to her character, and I am knitting her some furry socks to give her Hobbit feet. Anna had been Thorin, until she realized that her dwarf character dies at the end of the book, now she is moving on to Samwise, as Eme says "it's probably better that she is a Hobbit since she is smaller that me, and dwarfs are bigger". Grayson is Gandalf and the numerous dwarfs (one character is never enough for Grayson), though I imagine his character might change as we get introduced to more heroes in the trilogy. And of course Neve was Smoag (the great destroying dragon) but as he died as well, the kids have yet to assign her a new character.

The hardest part for me, as I spent time today researching how to make a beard out of crepe wool, is how long will this phase last, and is it worth spending the time to sew fabulous costumes worthy of a Tony Award (okay maybe I am just overly proud of my work) or should I by the horrible synthetic $20 Halloween store versions, or just let them imagine on their own and stay out of it. Okay as I reread this paragraph I know the answer is C, but I guess that means that I need another trip to the therapist to try and figure out why I feel such a need to overcompensate with my kids for the things I didn't have as a child?

On that note I better hit the hay as I have a big day of the "being game" tomorrow and my game is always better after a good night's rest.