wheee ... not so much

the first night of our family beach reunion in july, the four of us squeezed together for prayers on one of the beds in the room the kids were sharing with their second cousin. as we started our list of God Blesses, i was especially interested to see if liam could name all twenty-five people who were at the beach with us, after spending a whole day with them at meals and at play. he closed his eyes, clasped his hands, and began. "God bless the wii. in Jesus' name we pray. amen." yes, that's right. surrounded by two dozen fun people, an ocean, great food, and non-stop activity ... the one and only thing liam deemed worthy of mentioning in his prayers was the gaming system my aunt mary had brought up from atlanta.

it only got worse from there. by tuesday, chris and i had decided to pull the plug (literally) on his playing time. witnessing his attraction to this thing -- he was physically drawn to it like he was in its magnetic field -- actually began to freak us out. although i'm sure these things have benefits (hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills development, perhaps), the battles that would inevitably ensue cemented in my mind the fact that we will never own one. playing one on vacation is one thing. having to enter your child in a twelve step program for video game addicts is quite another thing entirely.

since returning home, things had gotten back to normal. he received a sleeping bag, doctor's kit, and a scooter for his birthday from us and his grandparents, all of which he was quite excited about. no mention whatsoever about wanting a certain $300 nintendo device. but then ...

he came home from a playdate last week, bursting at the seams with excitement. "we played the wii! it's the same one that aunt mary has! i did the bowling game! i got a turkey!" and on and on. when he had finally run out of steam, he pondered for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. "do you think i'll get a wii at my party?"

while i have not formally polled all of his guests ahead of tomorrow's party, i think it's a safe bet to say that none of the seven little boys coming to our pool for pizza and cake are going to be presenting him with a wii. i envisioned him unwrapping the last of his gifts tomorrow, a look of disappointment clouding his expectant face, and i realized i had to prepare him. "liam, you are not getting a wii for your birthday. i doubt you'll even get one for christmas." not wanting to go into the multitude of reasons behind our decision, i chose the one that he couldn't argue with. "they are just so expensive."

he literally stopped in his tracks. it was as if i had just revealed to him a gross misunderstanding, and he had to rectify the problem immediately. i could almost hear him mulling over how to best approach the situation, before ultimately deciding that slow articulation would work best.

"well, you see, mommy, i already know that the wii is expensive." (i guess he's heard that somewhere before.) he then put his hands on my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes. "but that is okay," he explained, "because i like expensive things."

wii have a problem.