Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.

Mark and I gave Nick a ping-pong table for Christmas. It was Mark's idea, really; I was skeptical. This is a kid who doesn't have video games, and everyone he knows does, and I worried that this just wouldn't be--I don't know--exciting enough.

He's been at Mark since we got home to put it together (it was given as a promise, since we were at my folks' and it was too big to take with us), and today it was done. And after dinner we had a rousing game of doubles that had us all laughing hysterically--at one point I was in tears from the silliness.

We are terrible. Well, Mark's pretty good, and Mariah's ok, but Nick and I are hyperbolically awful. Still, even when you're awful you hit the ball occasionally and it goes--well, somewhere, and that's fun. There was more running after the ball and laughing than there was playing ping-pong, but you've got to start somewhere.

I haven't laughed so hard in weeks. Maybe months. It was great. I hope we do it often.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm - think of all the exercise you get with Ping Pong: for the legs, hand/eye coordination, lungs! Lots better for all of you than video games... Go, Nick!

Heather said...

YAY!

Caroline said...

I LOVE ping pong, and Tony's actually quite good -- we can't wait to play the next time we come visit!

kate said...

That's great that you are all having fun with this-- great that you can play as a family and without a screen!

Lilian said...

This is the first thing we're getting when we have a house with a big garage. Oh, and the boys grow up some more. We can't wait. I'm AWFUL too, but my husband is quite good, as are his brothers. You talking about Nick not having video games gives me lots of hope for the future because we're not planning on getting them for our sons. Does he play games online, though? (My son is a big fan of the Sesame Street and other PBS kids online games, as well as Thomas the train).

Libby said...

he does play a few games online, Lilian--on lego.com or runescape. His options are pretty limited, though.

Masha, part of the fun is how small the space is, and how the ball always ends up behind the old couch, or under the sewing machine...etc. I think Mark's secret plan is to use this to motivate us to clean up the basement.

Caroline, you're on!