Like an Angry Bird

Technology has come far since I was a kid. I remember playing "Pong" on my (original) Atari, where the game changed depending on which way the line faced. If the line was parallel with the wall, then you bounced the "ball" (a dot) against the wall and it was handball. Move the line to the horizontal position and place a line down the middle of the screen and you have a net and are playing volleyball. Turn those lines vertical and you are playing tennis. I wasn't required to type a paper until my 11th grade term paper. Even in college, most people did not have a computer in their room and hardly anyone had internet. We had to go to the "computer lab" and we still used a library with actual books. The "cool" kids in highschool had pagers so that when someone wanted to get ahold of them, they were sent the phone number and they could go to a payphone and call that person back. I won't even get started on things like cassette tapes, walkmans, record players, VCRs and VHS tapes...

Needless to say, my kids seem like geniuses when it comes to technology. On Black Friday RJ buys our first "tablet" and my then 4 year old son figures it out before we do. The next day he is showing us how to use it, get to the market place, download apps, etc. RJ also bought us our first "smart phones" on Black Friday. Both the tablet and phones run off the Droid OS so my son knows how to use the phone before I do. To this day, he enjoys changing settings on my phone and laughing at me as I try to figure out how to change it back. One of CJ's favorite games (along with every little boy in America right now) is Angry Birds. Basically these pigs are stuck in random obstacles and you use your finger to slingshot birds across the sky and try to free the pigs. Different birds have different abilities. One bored day I decided to give this game a try. Afterall, how hard could it be? I mean, my 4 year olds were playing it. Well, it took me awhile to pass a level, but I was pretty proud of myself when I did...Only to look at my score and see that it was less than half of CJ's score on that same level. Really? I'm 33 years old. I graduated high school with honors. I have a college degree. And yet my 4 year old kicks my booty at a ridiculously addicting game.

The other day I am in the kitchen and I hear CJ saying to his twin "I'm going to throw you like an Angry Bird." I must admit, that is something I NEVER thought I would hear as a parent.  As I was trying to contain my laughter so I could send him to his room, I hear KC giggling. Apparently RJ had started a new Angry Birds game with them at night when I was at Boot Camp. They set up a pile of pillows and "throw" eachother into the pillows, "like an angry bird." *sigh*  There is much worse that they could be doing, so I embrace it and join in the fun. I know the Angry Bird phase won't last long, but for now, my son's world revolves around Angry Birds, Transformers, Army guys and Baseball, so mine will too.