Maddening Madden Tuesday

As I write this my son is losing his ever loving mind. He has been sent to his room crying & screaming bloody murder. His Daddy yells an occasional, "Josh shut up!" every 30 seconds or so. This is supposed to our vacation week. No one is having fun yet. This 4 year old is single handedly making us rethink whether Margaritas before 10 am is a good or bad idea. For the record the glasses are already chilling in the freezer.

Dat Dood going to the basement to play a game with Daddy.

I guess I should tell you what all the fuss is about. The child is obsessed with gaming. If we let him he'd play games all day. He would only break for oatmeal, bananas, and juice boxes. The first thing out his mouth 7am this morning is, "Mommy can I play pink game?" I should tell you that "pink game" is his sister's Nintendo DS named of course for it's color. He's been vying for this thing for months and he always gets a loud "NO!" when he asks her to play it. Yesterday, however,  I was curling her hair. Josh was plotting his basement time playing Sonic on the Xbox. He kept trying to negotiate with me. I'm sure I almost dropped the hot curling iron twice thus self preservation kicked in. I'm sure Lyric thought, If I let him play with my DS my mother will not burn me. It was a good quiet hour while I finished her hair.

Fast forward to us visiting my family later in the day. All Josh's idea. "Can we see Momma and Binky and Aunt Crystal and Jamal and Poppa and Baby Cousin?" Sure, sounds like a nice time. We'll be in the area why not stop by? Then it hit my hubby and I both. He just wants to play Mario on the PC!!

Sure enough we pull up in front of the house. Josh yells, "Yeah, let's do it!" Then he goes in throws his Yankees cap on the table, kicks off his shoes, and takes over the PC. No one is able to talk to the boy the entire time we're there.

This is sad and partially my fault.

We were in a waiting room. Doctor or dentist I can't recall. He was loud and running around being a typical 3 year old boy. I gave him my phone and let him play Pac Man. He was quiet. All was well with the world. Days later he took my phone to play again. I didn't want him on my phone and I have Pac Man on my DS so I gave him that. I have not been able to play Brain Age since.

Everything is a potential negotiation for game time.

"Mommy, when we go home can I play Sonic game?"
"Daddy, I had a great day. Can I play basketball game for 5 minutes?"
"Mommy, I cleaned up. Can I play DS?"

It was so bad this morning Daddy took out a nice wholesome game of Connect Four in his attempt to play something else. They played about 8 rounds of "who can put the pieces in faster". Dood is winning because well...all he does is win...no matter what. Then he says, "Daddy we gonna play two more times and then you wanna play Sonic game in the basement with me?" Daddy said no. I put on his PBS shows. He was content. The moment Super Why credits start rolling it's back to the negotiations. I leave the room and the hubby loses it. Josh is sent to his room.

Every location is a game haven. Visiting my Dad is a set up to play Sonic Tennis on Xbox. Going to the movies has a arcade. Chuckee Cheese is all about car racing games. We went to Hershey Park and all he can tell you is that he had cotton candy and played 2 car games. This is sear-we-us!!!

To be fair the poor kid's been in school since he was 18 months. He knew his basics (ABC's & 123's, shapes & colors) since before he was 2. He counts in Spanish. Speaks certain phrases in French. Knows cite words and has an internal navigation system in his head...i.e...I can't leave him anywhere...he will make his way home.

He's also very athletic. Daddy has had a football in his hand since before he could hold his own bottle. He never really learned to walk...he learned to run. He can kick a ball like nobody's business. Don't even get me started on all the Tae Kwon Do that he knows but never studied. Or is it kickboxing? I'm not even sure. You just don't want to be on the receiving end of one of his jabs. Those punches and kicks hurt and ironically we have a Naruto game to thank for that. Hence the reason why he can't play games during the school week. He goes to school and doesn't use nice hands.

The worse part is that it's Madden Tuesday! It's the August ritual of picking up and playing the latest edition of the NFL's answer to preseason blues. Grown men and boys across the country trek themselves to the nearest video game store (if they haven't already picked it up at the Midnight Maddeness hours earlier) to bring home this ever popular sports game. As I conclude this, the hubby and Dat Dood are getting dressed to go pick up his copy. I'm sure it's been paid off for weeks now.

So while I'm off enjoying day 2 of my vacay relaxing poolside these guys will probably stay at home in the basement gaming. Did I mention that Daddy is taking a little tantrum insurance with him in the form of my Nintendo DS (pictured above) while they're out and about? Yup because no matter how much we try to curb his game enthusiasm nothing soothes a public breakdown quicker than an handheld game. Major parenting fail!!! Joshua 10, Parents 0.