The Family that Games Together

Joseph has discovered Super Mario Brothers.

On the one hand, I love this game. I remember playing it with my sisters into the wee hours of the night. We'd take turns on the Nintendo NES and cheer each other on while we beat Bowser and dodged bouncing fireballs.

On the other hand, playing with Joseph stresses me out.

"Mommy!!! Wait for me! I'm going to die!"

"You're not going to die, baby. Stand behind me and I'll take out the turtles."

"But they're throwing hammers!"

"I know, baby. I know. Just let me..."

"Run, Mama, run!"

"Joseph...stop bouncing on my head. Get Mario off my head, baby!"

"I can't! He's scared!"

"Baby...you've got to calm down. Get Mario off my head."

"But he wants his brother."

"But...aaarrrggghhh!"

"Oh no, Mommy! You died! The turtle got you with his hammer!" Joseph exclaimed, jumping around the couch.

"Pop the bubble, Joe. Pop the bubble."

"I can't. Mario is too scared."

"Mario needs to grow a pair," I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, hon," I glanced over at a laughing Chad. "Now, Joe. You need to pop the bubble. Pop the bubble and I can help Mario."

"Okay," my son said as he ran Mario off a cliff.

"Why did you do that?!"

"Is Mario dead?"

"We're both dead."

"Do we have to start over?"

"Yep."

"Okay. I love playing Mario Brothers with you, Mama."

"Me too, baby. Now get Mario off my head so I can destroy this turtle!"


On a totally unrelated note, I'm over at Makes Fun of Stuff today blogging about Knifty Knitters. Check it out. And thank you to Christine at SLOCM for the title inspiration.