Mario and I tried to play soccer outside last night but the mosquitos were killing us. I have already counted ten bites today. So we decided to play some Wii games instead. I begged for table tennis but he wanted basketball. I do not play basketball well. I can’t shoot. Mario quickly found that fact out when we began to play.

“Mom, you shoot like this” as he jumped up with the controller above his head. I tried again with no luck. He got exasperated. “Mom, you need to try harder. I need some competition!” That’s my boy. He loves the challenge but he also hates the defeat. When Jon and he played 18 holes of golf last night, he got angry when Jon won one hole. “I hate golf!” he yelled and placed down his controller. When Jon told him they could quit, however, he sang a different tune. There was no way.

We moved onto sword fighting a while later. My boy can go to town in that game. He works his body up so good by jumping and swinging all over that you think he is going to fall over and pass out. At one point he had a death match with his opponent after fighting non-stop for two minutes and tying. He begged Jon to finish the match for him because he could barely move. Jon won (what a hunk!) but when we looked over at Mario, he was sprawled out in a chair and his little belly was rising up and down trying to get more air. We finally found a game to wear him out!

Of course, he wants more pain. Just like his mama continues to run when her legs are sore, he continues to fight when he’s exhausted. After the Wii game, he begged us to sign him up for fencing. We will add that to his request to play soccer, football, boxing, basketball, and wrestling….