Little Me…

Like Father, Like Son

Have I mentioned how much of myself I see in my son? This similarity goes beyond the fact he resembles me ( that’s genetics), it goes to places where I will admit does not necessarily make me proud. Not with him, I’m always proud of my son…it’s my characteristics I’m no so proud of. For example, my son like his father before him in his childhood days, is sometimes a terrible loser…a real bad sport. The difference is that the games Jeffery plays are single player games where the games Daddy played were with his brothers and sisters so his poor sportsmanship was on display for all to see. Jeffery gets mad because he doesn’t like to fail…unless it suits his purpose. He likes to play games that asks questions and purposely give the wrong answer to hear the response. “Uh-Oh, Try Again.” But if he wants to succeed and fails ( which doesn’t happen that much) he let’s you know it. We try to tell Jeffery not to get mad and try again and most of the time he will but sometimes he will have none of that.

Now, Let us go back in time to visit young Martin (use any mental musical interlude that suggest a flashback) as he agrees to be the Banker in a family game of Monopoly…deftly stealing (borrowing at a reasonably low interest rate) from the bank but fuming as he lands on his sister Vonnie’s Hotels again and again. Soon, as he sees this game as a personal affront of his manhood, he flips the board up in disgust as he storms from the room. Fade out and transition to an slightly older Martin playing Nintendo…watch in utter amazement or amusement as another controller turns into a missile as he throws it in a temper tantrum that would make his future son proud. Fade back to the present…A much older, wiser Martin watches his son and sees…himself. I have often suspected that I had autistic tendencies that they didn’t have a name for back then. What got me over my ridiculousness back then…besides natural maturation? A consistent, steady dose of losing…it happened so frequently that it ceased to be such a big deal to me.

Another thing my son does like “little me” is to sub-contract help with his games to win. If he is having trouble getting by a certain level of a game, he recruits help to get him by said levels so he can move on. I incorporated the same strategy in my misspent youth when playing old school first person shooters like “Wolfenstein 3D”, “Doom”, or “Quake.” Because even then, my sense of direction left much to be desired and these were basically maze games with shooting involved. You wound your way to the center where a “BossMan” awaited and you slugged it out with him to move on to another level. Since I wanted to win these games before social security kicked in, I recruited help from anyone and everyone to get through each maze and save at the point the boss level starts. When it came to just fighting it out I was fine…it was getting there that I was horrible at.

In Jeffery’s case, it is two different Spongebob Games that he will recruit assistance with. Jeffery has a Spongebob Typing game that teaches you to type and gives you a typing quiz at the end of each level. If you are successful, you see an animated cut-scene and then you continue with the next lesson. Jeffery actually does pretty well during the lessons but balks at taking the test….Clap!Clap! “Father, come take this quiz for me and be quick about it.” This is what I think he means but what he actually says is “Help please Daddy,” as he points me to the keyboard.” My son is nothing if not polite in his requests. He will play this game for a time and soon go on to other things but each time he comes back to it…maybe even months later…he progresses on his own a little further. Someday he won’t even need Dad’s assistance, but in the meantime…”Clap! Clap! “Typers!” (Kudos to the first person who can tell me what this line is parodying). The other game is a “Jakks Plug and Play TV Game” with a joystick that looks like SpongeBob. This one has five different games but the one he likes ME to play for him involves saving Sandy Cheeks from Plankton. This one he doesn’t go very far before he comes to Dad for help…and at first…only Dad. I kept telling him to let his cousin Rachel help him….and she was willing…but if she died even once, the controller was snatched from her hand and given to Dad. But he didn’t want Dad to just get him through a level…He wanted me to go through the entire thing which must be 20 levels. And if Dad should be so fortunate to get through it all and save Sandy, “Help please, Daddy! “Nope Son, been there, done that, got the shirt..It’s YOUR turn.” Thankfully that will trigger a move toward another game.

I wish I could say these trivial matters were the only things about Jeffery that we are similar but there are many others. Hand gestures, some facial expressions…a certain reluctance to look people in the eyes….a combination of things that adds up to seeing in him…a little me!