Not much has changed since I last updated this blog. Good Time Charlie is still having a GREAT time, and still can't keep his hands to himself and still doesn't seem to mind the loss of privileges. To have his level on contentedness with life is truly is a gift. Sir WhineAlot is STILL whining, although it seems to lessening in intensity and frequency the closer we inch to six years. Starting in August it's his poor kindergarten teacher who will get the privilege of listening to this whining 6 hours a day on a daily basis. Lucky me, and not so lucky her. And Captain Competitive is still making sure he wins, or at least tries to, at everything he does. I've tried my hardest to explain it REALLY doesn't matter who wins the backyard soccer game, but his brain is just wired differently than mine. I blame this on Captain Competitive Senior himself.
The most significant change in our family life since I last wrote comes in the form of one box, which measures about 10 inches by 2 inches, brought here on the last joyous Christmas morning. It was about November when Alpha Gamma McVey started announcing that we were "the only family in the whole entire universe without a Wii". My mind immediately started racing, thinking, "What about the starving children in Africa, or the children right here in our own state who don't have ANY toys?? I'm sure they don't have a Wii! How have I failed as a parent making my children so self absorbed??" Then I remembered they aren't allowed to watch the news and aren't old enough to read the paper, so they really are products of their environment, and their little street which resembles Pleasantville if there ever was such a thing. We are never the first in the neighborhood to get the latest and greatest gadgets (mostly because I don't even know how this stuff works), and considering the Wii was on its way out, and XBox on its way in, I figured this was the perfect time to take the plunge. So we told them what any good parents would.... the fat man in the big red suit is WATCHING YOU...... ALL the time..... and maybe, just maybe, he will bring it down the chimney.
Now I love November and December for lots of reasons, but mostly because of the magic of Santa and his watchful eyes. All it takes to redirect behavior those two months of the year is a reminder that he's watching... ALL the time. I wish the man in the red suit came every month, would seriously make my job MUCH easier. Now he did bring the Wii, and along with it the Norman Rockwell Christmas moment of alot of celebrating and screeching and smiling. All seemed well in the world for those first few days.
And then it happened............. the Wii turned my boys into crazed lunatics. For some reason I coud not find the warning on the box, but am thinking of writing Nintendo a very lengthy letter. Crying, screaming, kicking, crazy lunatics. I never imagined such a small little box/game could create so much unrest in my house. It's like they become possessed with that 5 inch remote in their little hands. And then I become an angry, crazed lunatic mother as I threaten to shut it off, throw it out the window, and give it to the poor kids in Africa who have no toys. But every once in while, there are glimpses of normalcy when they play. I listen from the door and hear nothing but complete silence and the little beeps of Mario jumping all over the screen. Still have no idea how Mario can be so entertaining, but then again I'm not a video game addict like others in my house.
Something magical happened about a month later... the lightbulb went on in his head and Captain Competitive Senior figured out how to use this little box to our personal advantage. On weekend mornings, it's Wii time now my friends.... from 7am on. Not family Wii time, kid Wii time. That's right ... no one asks for breakfast, for snacks, for help assembling the latest and greatest Lego ship. No one even comes up to tattle.... that would mean giving up the precious remote in their hands and leaving the screen to walk up two flights of stairs. The fighting stays all the way down in the basement, and we are all the up on the 2nd floor................ and no one bothers us for hours. Aaahhhhhhhhhhhh................ to wii or not to wii. It's these mornings that I too have learned to love that little box.
