Why Did the Animal Cross the Road?: Gaming With Your Kids

So I have now done the unthinkable (ok, not really if you know me) and given Pea my basically new 3DS and bought a 3DS XL for myself so that I could play Animal Crossing–for purely research purposes of course. So, it started with Luigi’s Mansion. Pea is a fan of Mario and Luigi and has been since she was about 2. Mario and Luigi died a lot then, and honestly they still do, but Pea like the games anyway. When she saw Luigi’s Mansion and learned that she couldn’t play it on her current DS she was a little disappointed but she was willing to deal with just playing on mine alongside me. Actually she just stands in front of me and between my arms while I sit and play and it still works ok as long as I look around all of the hair. 🙂

And then it happened….Animal Crossing: New Leaf. We tried to do the lap co-op thing, but we kept bumping heads….figuratively not literally. She kept designing and buying dresses for me in game and I wasn’t having it. She got pissed that I changed back into pants and shirts every time she left. She kept running off my bugs, pulling up all of my flowers, and digging holes every where! She crossed all kinds of gaming lines. It meant only one thing….she needed her own copy. Guess what little missy is getting for her birthday tomorrow.

While she plays with the social features of the 3DS I am getting some kind of sick pleasure as she complains that everyone she Street Passes is playing Animal Crossing and she can’t. Boy, I do love surprises. But this one may come back to bite me in the ass…

Since she has no current video game obsession I got the question that I have been dreading in my soul as I put her to bed the other night and turned on the orchestral score to Ni No Kuni that she has been listening to every night for the last million months. It went another like this (cue Wayne’s World dream sequence)

Pea: Mama?
Me: Yes, Pea.
Pea: I really miss the stories in Ni No Kuni (damn, you Level5 for your crappy post-completion play)
Me: Ummm Hmmmmm
Pea: Don’t you?
Me: Not as much as you, darling.
Pea: Mama?
Me: Yes, Pea.
Pea: Can we play Ni No Kuni again from the beginning?
Me: *Swooning as the world grows dim*
Me: (recovering) Do you remember how long it took to play Ni No Kuni the first time? (That would be 100+ hours!)
Pea: Yes! (Raises little first in the air as if holding a wand and singing) “Da Da Dum”
Me: Ok, sweetie. We can play again.
Pea: Yay!!!! Can we start tomorrow?

Somebody kill me now.

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