Cole and the Wii

Cole is one of those kids who becomes obsessed with something and then all of his play revolves around that one thing. When he was three or four, it was the Wiggles, and all of his play focused on music. He would set up drum kits with random buckets - note the "cymbal" in the corner and the markers as drumsticks.


He'd make up songs on the keyboard, and anything and everything became a guitar. For awhile, he decided that spatulas looked like guitars, and he carried around my spatula everywhere he went. One time we accidentally left it at a friend's house, and it was like losing a treasured teddy bear or blanket - he wouldn't go to sleep without it.


When he was five, his obsession was Peter Pan, and for several months, he wore his Peter Pan costume day and night. You can find the evidence here and here.

Ever since we got the Wii, Cole has been obsessed with video games, Pokemon, and now Mario. DO NOT ask this kid anything related to any of those subjects because he'll talk your ear off for an hour. Tonight I said to him, "You probably know more about Mario than anyone except people who work for Nintendo."

I was being ironic, but Cole said, "Yeah, that's probably true."

I have to admit that I don't love this obsession like I have the past ones. I'm not a video game fan, and it breaks my heart just a little bit when I say, "Let's go to the playground," and Cole says, "Does that mean we won't have time to play on the Wii?" But I'm trying to let it go and let Cole be Cole.


For a few months, Cole saved up his money and then bought Super Mario All Stars, which is the original three Mario games. Finally, video games I can play! I have to admit that it's been kind of fun playing those with him, especially when he says, "Wow, Momma, you're so good at this!"

And the best part is when I say something like, "Watch out for that duck turtle," and he replies, "Those aren't duck turtles, Momma. Those are koopa-troopas." Cracks me up every time.