Nerd Immersion

It will be years before 1337 D4ddy and I know where the offspring's true interests lie, but in the meantime we are making her part of our very nerdy lives. In February we were fortunate to be able to attend Naka-kon 2010, our first anime convention. We brought the offspring along, and she was a huge hit. One of her "aunties" made a moogle poncho for her, so naturally baby had to cosplay on Friday. It didn't last long. About fifteen minutes in, she was trying to pull the hood off. Despite the costume being short-lived, people were still talking about it on Sunday! She was adored by the guests as well as the con-goers and even made it onto Christopher Ayers' website. (About 1/3 down, she's the baby being "autographed") She now has a hat embroidered with Cthulu- it reads "elder snack".

In addition to the big events, the offspring is of course involved in our day-to-day geekery. We host a D&D group once a week and I happily play with the offspring on my lap, or even nursing right at the table while someone else rolls for me. We make jokes about rolling a halfling character for her, but we're a little bit serious too. Someday we'll teach her how to play. Dice games can help with her math skills, and roleplaying fuels the imagination, plus it's a game that requires us all to sit down together and talk to one another. As busy as society tries to keep families nowadays, that will be something to treasure.

I don't know if my daughter will ever join her own D&D group, if she'll want to go to anime conventions (with or without us) when she's a teenager, or if we will someday have long discussions about The Lord of the Rings. Maybe she will geek out over something that has yet to be invented and I will feel connected, yet disconnected at the same time, as I'm sure my own parents have felt sometimes as they watch me grow nerdier than they could have ever predicted. But we are going to share lots of memories in the meantime.