Charlie the yogi

With colder weather, comes extra time spent on the Wii. Normally Charlie prefers 'ford fighting' (swordfighting) or 'punching da guys' (boxing). In fact, he will pretend to play the boxing game in his carseat on roadtrips, even singing the little victory song at the end of a round.

A few weeks ago, we had this conversation:

Charlie: Mama, next time I need to punch a guy, you take off my shirt?
Gretchen: Why do you need your shirt off to punch a guy?
C: Dey like it when I punch da guy. But dey don't like my shirt. Dey dest like it when I got da gween pants on.
G: Well, take off your own shirt.
C: I tan't do dat. But you can do dat for me. Deal?
G: No deal. You have to learn to prepare for your own battles in life.

I try to only purchase Wii games that involve movement and activity. I' m not generally a fan of video games for the 4-7 crowd, but I like the indoor exercise that it encourages. We have the Fit Plus with the balance board, the Sports Resort, the Fitness Coach and I just ordered the Active Life Explorer, which promises to be Indiana Jones-like in its games.

Today, we get home from school, do a little homework and eat a little popcorn. Charlie gets first crack at the Wii and chooses to do a 15 minute yoga routine. Watching his little awkward body try to bend and twist lithely from pose to pose with his boo-tah-day in the air and oversized head aimed at the screen provided great entertainment. Melody came in to do it with him and attempted to coach him along. I told her she'd be better off just doing it next to him, so a slightly-larger little awkward body went from forward bend to downward dog to crocodile and back.

Today, Charlie is wearing a little stripey gymboree one piece romper with a  puppy face in the front and a puppy tail appliqued on the heiny. So each time he did downward dog, his little tail was in the air. And each time the fitness coach said 'downward dog' he and Melody both let out a tiny, strained, 'bark!'