Die Hard Fan

If there has been one unfortunate result of my sickness this past winter and the rainy weather we've recently been experiencing, it is Cooper's new addiction to video games. Our Wii is something that we only bring out in the winter and promptly put away as soon as warm weather appears. Unfortunately it has been a LONG winter and we are still waiting for warm weather. At Christmas time Cooper didn't even participate in video games. He was content to sit and watch others play. And admittedly we would sometimes let him think he was playing even though one of us was controlling the characters. Since then his gaming has rapidly improved. He challenges everyone from Mimi to Uncle Shane to a game just about as soon as they walk in our door. Sometimes he even wants me to call them to come over and play.

Just yesterday while I was preparing dinner I allowed Cooper to play Super Mario Brothers. After a few minutes I could no longer hear the familiar music from the game. I peeked in the playroom to find my die hard gamer sleeping soundly, controller still in hand.

Needless to say, we are anxious for the warm weather so we can pack up the Wii and head outside. And hopefully find something a little softer to sleep with than a video game controller.

** Disclaimer - Yes, I know that as parents we can put the video games away at any time or just not allow them at all. However, we are human and sometimes need another diversion or a few minutes of down time in which the video games, much like the TV, come in handy. We are fairly sure that Cooper will not suffer any serious side effects besides improved hand eye coordination - but then again, we were raised with video games and we're still not quite normal. Time will tell.