There’s a used bookstore near my in-laws that I enjoy stopping by when we’re visiting. One of the best offerings of this store (at least in kiddo’s mind) is the bin full of Pokémon cards up near the comics. The deal is that you can stuff a provided plastic bag (the kind that comes in board games to hold components) as full as you dare, take it up to the register, and they’ll just charge you a flat five bucks, no matter how many cards you fit into the bag. (You can also fill a larger box for a higher fee, or you can stuff a bag full of Magic cards from the next bin over, but our interest has always been in bagging our own Pokémon cards).

Regular verbs in French commonly end in “-er” so I joked to a friend about « charmander » as a verb. After some conjugations, he asked what it would mean; it turns out that « mander » is already an archaic verb (and we knew « char » was a noun), so we came up with a defensible definition.

Look, I’m a bit hesitant here, but Aardman’s take on Star Wars was great, so fingers crossed!!

Kiddo’s describing defeated Pokémon as “dying” is really forcing me to confront the premise of the series.

Turns out that explaining to kiddo how to pull off a victory against long odds in the Pokémon TCG scratches the same strategic itch as doing it myself, so she got to beat me, and I still had a satisfying game.

This morning, Mormon studies scholar Dr. Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye passed away after a years-long struggle with cancer. Melissa was an amazing scholar, fantastic mentor, and just great person, and I think a lot of people—even just those who knew her professionally—are going to be spending time writing, thinking, and crying about her today and in the weeks to come. Other people will have more, and more important, things to say than I do, but I’m deeply grateful for Melissa, and I want to show that gratitude by sharing a few thoughts of my own.

“Dad, what’s a… lunch-ee-on?” “A Luncheon? It’s an evolution of Eevee. Lunch-type Pokémon.” “Dad! No, it’s not!”

Two minutes into her first experience with a main-series Pokémon game, kiddo realized she could name her rival “Chicken,” so I’d say we’re off too a good start.

Comme mon épouse se débrouille en français, on s’en sert pour parler des cadeaux devant notre fille exclusivement anglophone. Mais comme « Pokémon » serait quand-même reconnaissable, mon épouse a dû trouver une circonlocution : « le jeu vidéo de… pochette…. monstre ? »

Spouse and I have been using French to talk about Christmas presents in front of kiddo. Tonight, I got to hear spouse refer to “monsters of the pocket” so that kiddo wouldn’t recognize “Pokémon” in the middle of an otherwise incomprehensible-to-her sentence.

Kiddo, just now: “Are Pokémon even marsupials?”

When I was kiddo’s age, Pokémon didn’t exist yet, so there’s something that breaks my brain about her current enthusiasm for the franchise.

Kiddo’s uncle is teaching her the Pokémon TCG, which is pretty delightful.