Wii don't need to eat dinner

Gentlemen, Nintendo has crafted a device that will make your wives and girlfriends want to play video games with you, and that device is the Wii.

Yesterday evening, as is often the case in our household, Emily was wrestling for Misty's attention over Kendall by pestering her relentlessly. "Mommy, can I have a snack?" ... "Mommy, come push me on the swing." ... "Mommy, can you fix my necklace?" ... "Mommy, eat this [imaginary] cupcake I made for you. ... No! You forgot to take the wrapper off first!" "Mommy, I need you."

Just to be a pest, I told Emily, "Maybe Mommy will play Wii Tennis with you when she finishes nursing Kendall," knowing full well that this would result in a barrage of requests from Emily that Misty hurry up and play. My thinking was: If Emily asks her, she's more likely to do it than if I do.

My plan worked. Mother and daughter played as a team for three rounds of tennis doubles, and the addictive powers of the Wii drew Misty in. Immediately following their set, Misty wanted to play again. Of couse, Emily pretty much sucks at the game and is able to return the ball about one out of every fifty times her opponent hits it to her, so I took over as Misty's partner. We played a couple more three-match sets, and it was time for dinner.

But Misty didn't want to eat dinner. She wanted to keep playing. So she quickly set out something for Emily to eat, and she returned to our game. Kendall was getting tired of sitting in her swing, so Misty and I took turns holding her in one arm while we swung our Wiimotes with the other. In between serves, Misty would dash into the kitchen to encourage Emily to continue to eat. I think we played three more five-match sets, (with a round of Wii Bowling somewhere in between) and we won each of them.

By this time, Emily needed to be getting ready for bed. Grudginly, Misty relented and allowed me to shut down the game system. We got Emily off to bed and heated up some soup for ourselves for dinner. While we were eating, Misty said something about being frustrated that we couldn't play anymore since we'd keep Emily awake. If we hadn't had a new Entourage DVD from the video store though, I think she would have turned turned the Wii right back on.