You know how my job involves kids, right? Well, the two youngest are boys, aged 6 and 8. I'll call them "Sam" and "Todd." Sam goes to preschool and Todd is in 2nd grade (school starts at age 7 here). Their mom, my employer's wife, no longer stays at home like she did when I started there; she's now working at an outpatient clinic. This means I have a lot more responsibility, but also a lot more freedom. Gradually, in these past few months, I've gotten to know my work environment and the people in it better. At this point it seems I'm finally loosening up and being more myself. (Why has it taken so long? Well, I'll just say the environment is in many ways different from the one I grew up in myself, numerous-but-mostly-unnoticed similarities notwithstanding.) . . . What was I saying? Darn all this background info. . .

So the boys decided about yesterday or so that they were going to start collecting "Bionicles." Do not give me that look; I had nothing to do with it. (That I know of -- although they technically have been aware of my hobby.) Sam got Defilak for Christmas, and Todd claims to have owned a total of five Bionicles. (His evident track record of losing them does not bode well. I shall have to do something about that.) Like it or not, I now have two potential new fanhoods in my immediate area of influence.

Oh, I just realized my own role in facilitating the boys' decision. So obvious. Sam's been asking me all kinds of questions about the toy line recently, and I've obliged him with answers to all of them. So there, I'm not as neutral a player as I thought. But the limited, responsible part of a facilitator is one I have no problem with playing.

Last night, in light of the boys' declaration of intent, I had a brainwave. Knowing that Sam was due to have one of his friends over for a play date today, I decided to surprise them both. I packed Onua Nuva, a "custom" Av-Matoran rider, and my freshly acquired, tweaked Rockoh T3 set in a box. I took the box with me in the car this morning and brought it into the house while Sam was at preschool.

Needless to say, when the time came around and the surprise was revealed, Sam and his buddy "Aaron" were totally enthralled. I set a few ground rules (don't lose the ammo, don't play rough, etc.) and let them go at it. Logically, since they're both TMNT fans, they role-played Shredder and Mikey and whoever else from the Turtles universe. They were so into it that they played with my toys almost the entire time Aaron was over, about two and a half hours. Todd took off to go skating after he came home from school, but when he returned, he fell under the spell too. Except for short breaks, the boys' (especially Sam's) play was pretty much continuous up until I left work, taking the magic box of Bionicles with me.

Not a single piece was broken or lost. At no time did I fear for my plastic. I did have to hunt down a Midak ball (no sweat) and the Av-Matoran/Agori dude (behind the TV, left there by Aaron, a more involved search), stop Sam from absently putting a red Twin Cutter in his mouth, and tell Todd not to bend the Rockoh's wings, but such things are to be expected. I would say the trial was a brilliant success.

Here's looking forward to future sharings of the wealth and fun times for the kiddies. All three boys are hyped up to watch the movies, too. I'm going to have to start storing those DVDs in my car -- who knows when they'll be needed?

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