A New Obsession

This past Christmas, we bought a present for Claire that was more a present for us. We bought her a MobiGo. For those of you who are thinking, "A Mobi-What??" . . . . a MobiGo is a hand held gaming system by V-Tech. It is geared for kids 3-8. We bought this in our  hopes that it would help Claire pass the time on the many, many flights we had scheduled to get us around to see family over the holidays. Claire was happy to get it and if you ask me, she likes it the proper amount. She'll play it from time to time but it doesn't consume her every waking moment. It is a good supplement to her already overfilled toy inventory.

Recently, Sarah discovered Claire's MobiGo and fell in love. Seriously. This kid can't get enough of that thing. She has always been my little engineer. She can fiddle with something with amazing patience until she finally figures out how it works. The MobiGo was no exception. With Claire, I had to show her how to play the games. Once I did, she was set. But Sarah? I have never once told her how to play any game on this thing and she is already playing circles around Claire. It's a little scary I must admit. 

I decided it was time to blog about this little love of Sarah's which has turned into an obsession when I saw her in the kitchen the other day. She loves to play with my oven mitts and will often stop whatever she is doing to slip them on her little hands. On this particular day, she had been playing the MobiGo. She stopped to put on the oven mitts and then went right back to the game and attempted to play it while wearing said mitts. I ran for my camera to capture the incredible cuteness of it all, but before I could get back to her, the smarty pants had realized that wearing oven mitts was only going to hinder her game play. I made it back to the kitchen just in time to see her walking away with her precious MobiGo, oven mitts shed and lying on the floor. 

But that gave me an idea. I decided to keep my camera ready over the next day or so to see how many different ways I could capture Sarah with her newest best friend. Here, my dear friends are just a few of the places I've found Sarah playing this contraption.

A little game with your breakfast?

I had put the system up on the counter so she would be forced to take a break. Then she moved the stool over, climbed up and got the MobiGo and started playing it right there on the stool. Little stinker!

During her morning snack. Notice that she is actually using her Cheese-It cracker to touch the screen for game play.

While on the hippity-hop. 

Even sisterly love won't stop her.

In fact the sisterly love was a little too much distraction, so she is on the move to find a new spot to play in peace. 

A random floor crouch playing position.

And yes, even while "watching" TV.

This is my child who really can take or leave TV. She will watch an occasional show, but for the most part TV is too sedentary for her. Sarah is much happier when she is tinkering with something and figuring out how it works. So while I was initially surprised by how much she adored this little game, the fact that it is basically an interactive TV created the perfect combo for my little tinker tot. It's been interesting and even a bit funny to watch her obsession grow, but I think it is time to create some sanctions. I am preparing to stow this little toy away in the highest cabinet where she can't find it and only pull it out for short spurts in the day. I dread the withdrawal she will no doubt experience once I separate her from this new love of hers!