Wii Fest

It's really too bad M doesn't have a big brother. We spent the day at Chris' parent's house visiting with them and some of Chris' cousins, Aunt, and Uncle. M and E spent the evening idolizing and following around Chris' eight year old cousin. They played a bowling game on Wii, did some serious pillow fighting, played cars, and did a lot of punching and kicking. Unfortunately for the kids, Chris, Elias, Derek, and Grandpa Randy discovered how much fun the bowling game was and claimed it for themselves - leaving the kids to watch and beg to be included in the following games. I believe the big boys confiscated the game for about three hours, and the competition got pretty serious - I believe there was money involved by the end of it. The really funny part? The little kids could kick their Grandpa's, Daddy's, and Uncle's butts. I think eight year old Jake finished his game with a 217 (having finished with four strikes in a row) while poor Grandpa finished with a 107. That had to hurt.

I have to admit, I have never really liked video games, and I was pretty certain I would never allow my kids to have one. However, as with most parenting issues, I have decided that you just can't say what you will never do until you have some experience with said issue. After watching the kids play the (extremely fun and NON-violent) game last night, I can now imagine a time in our future that I will allow the kids to have one. I don't think they're ready for it yet, party because they still enjoy playing the educational games on their computer, and partly because I don't think they're responsible enough right now to adhere to game time limits, but I think within a few years they might be ready, and by then, we might actually be able to find one in the stores (they've been sold out in our local stores since Christmas).

At bedtime I asked M what his favorite part of the day was. His answer: "playing pillow fight with Jake." He wasn't even as addicted to the video game as I thought he would be - and he LOVED his cousin - which brings me back again to the thought that it's really too bad M doesn't have a big brother.