Mario Cart

Steven received Mario Cart for Wii for his birthday.  It has become an huge hit with everyone in the family especially Mitchell.  We start the Wii and Mitchell immediately sits down in his blue Pottery Barn overstuffed chair that I am so happy we are getting use out of after months of it just hanging out by itself.  Anyhow, Mitchell plops in his chair and stairs at the TV in anticipation.  Occasionally he gets close to the TV and follows the racers  moving around the course map on the lower right of the screen but mostly he sits and oohs & aahhs and shreiks with delight as the cart kareems into the gorge or blows up after hitting a bomb.  We noticed right away how much he loved watching the game but he never requested it until last week.

Last Sunday Mitchell was getting a little agitated with nothing to do.  He kept walking around whining a bit and would walk over to his Dynavox and select the Toys folder but wouldn't pick anything.  Finally I got it & said "Mitchell you want to play Mario Cart" and he sprinted to he seat and giggled.  Unfortunately this means drop what you're doing and entertain me because I certainly don't want to play it, only watch YOU play it.  Oh, twist my arm, I'll put down the laundry and sit on the couch for a bit.  So when the fun was over I took a picture of the Mario Cart package and added it to his Toys folder on the Dynavox.  You see where this is going?  Many times a day now we are summoned to the family room to put on a show.  It's so hard to tell him no when there is so little he finds interest in.

If you pause the game for any reason, Mitchell will grab your hand to get your attention and walk to the TV and point to the CONTINUE button that is waiting to be clicked.  Last night he requested Mario Cart while Steven was playing Pokeman so I told him he had to wait a few minutes so he sat patiently.  Once Steven started shutting down the game but got distracted, Mitchell helped him out by pointing to the QUIT button on the screen while saying the word.  Who says video games are bad?  I just realized Mitchell can identify the words continue & quit, understand their meaning and say them as well.

I let them know at By Your Side that I added this to his device because if he sees they have it there he may want them to play it form him.  I was told they could work on him playing it, that is just really awesome.