I will wager that the delicate machinations required to steer a 1-yo birthday party conversation to the NFL pale in comparison to bringing up a youthful appreciation of text-based computer games:
My son just turned two, but about six months ago, I told him “Sam, go into your room and get a book and bring it out here,” and he did it, and I thought at the time, “Wow, he’s as smart as an Infocom game.”On second thought, it's actually super-easy. Just wear a t-shirt with an esoteric phrase on it. Non-gamers will just assume you shop at Urban Outfitters and will proceed to chat you up about football.This morning, though, when I was putting on his diaper, he rolled over onto his stomach, and I said, “Sam, flip over” and I got no response, so I said, “Sam, flip over so I can change your diaper,” and I got no response, so I said, “Flip over, Sam,” and got no response, so finally I said, “Sam, roll over,” and he did, which means he’s actually only as smart as “King’s Quest”.
Our 69,105th Post [recursive bee via waxy]
Oregon Trail t-shirt in adult sizes only, $18 [bustedtees.com]
With my daughter, I have to say, "xyzzy"
(yes, I am the worst kind of geek - an old geek)
So funny -- a friend and I got back into playing and writing 'interactive fiction' a couple years ago, and I just told him yesterday that our daughter speaks Zork. "Daddy, sit couch." "Daddy, give penguin." And so on...