kiwords

Tre’s current obsession is yo-yos. In general, Tre doesn’t have “interests.” Things in Tre’s life tend to fall into one of two categories: The Most Important Thing There Is So Let Me Tell You All About It or Everything Else.

So the current Most Important Thing is yo-yos. In true Tre fashion, he has researched yo-yos on line, bought two of them, disassembled and reassembled them, and played with them all day. So much yo-yoing went on around here that when I close my eyes, I see green plastic orbs spin past my noses.

Now, Raphael and Max didn’t want to be left out of the yo-yo-fest, so Mom took them to Target to get their own. In a stroke of genius, she bought them yo-yo BALLS instead of actual yo-yos. This is a fabulous choice, as real yo-yos are still just a bit beyond Max’s coordination. As far as Raphael goes, you may as well present him with a nuclear lab, the concept is so far beyond his grasp. But the yo-yo balls are different. They feature a retractable string. So when one of them sends the ball spinning toward the floor, it only goes so far before the string sucks the ball back up into their hand. Voila! Instant yo-yo success. Max immediately devised a move that Clay dubbed, “Around the world and into his forehead.” It’s not as painful as it sounds.

While his little brothers played around with their ersatz yo-yos, Tre was in earnest pursuit of true achievement. He can already “walk the dog” and go “around the world” – three or four times. When I was a kid, I remember trying those tricks for a solid twenty seconds or so before I became completely frustrated and bored and threw the yo-yo across the room. So I’m amazed with his focus and his growing prowess. He also understands the mechanics of the thing better than I could have imagined at his age. He likes to discuss the merits of “friction stickers” – which I have taken to calling “stricktion fickers” just to make him laugh.

I’m not sure, exactly, what yo-yo skills will get him in life. It’s not the sort of thing you put on a college application, although he DID inform me tonight that he wants to go pro. Is there such a thing as yo-yo pro?

Anyhow, I don’t know what this will get him, concretely. I hear it’s good for hand-eye coordination, and I suppose it’s always a good thing for a child to have an interest to follow. I (speaking humbly as his mother) believe he COULD be a yo-yo pro, and that he would totally smoke everyone else on the yo-yo circuit.

However, my ultimate hope for the yo-yo craze is a simple one.

I hope he doesn’t break any windows or give anyone a concussion. That’s all I need to feel that he is a complete yo-yo success.