"The trick is growing up without growing old."

I have a lot to thank Nintendo for, they unknowingly helped to shape my childhood and my development from an early age. I remember how excited I was when we got our NES console and how great it felt holding that Duck hunt gun and shooting at the screen, it was the cutting edge in video games and I couldn't get enough of it. When I was at school you were either in the Nintendo gang or you were Sega and while some of my friends spent their free time at home with that jumped up hedgehog Sonic, I was a Mario boy through and through. Because of this, over the years I have owned every console they have released, apart from the 3ds, I'm hoping one of those will find its way to me at some point soon.

Nintendo will always be special to me and Seth, a few years back when we found out Opeie was on his way Mrs M fell very ill and was in and out of hospital through the pregnancy, I feared the worst and because of this me and Seth would spend a lot of our days hanging around the hospital waiting to see Mrs M. I decided to buy Seth a DS to keep him entertained, i did think at the time maybe he was a little to young for it but he was instantly hooked and within a week I had brought myself one and we would sit in the hospital cafe or under the huge weeping willow on the grounds playing together. I guess it kept our minds off what was going on inbetween visiting times. Our gaming sessions is something that has continued ever since, It kept us fully entertained during our recent long haul flight and we have all been happily playing Mario together earlier.

Our gaming party of two has now increased to three and Opeie seems to be even more interested in handheld gaming than us. Ever since being sent the 2ds by Nintendo for our holiday, Opeie has become an addict and considering he hasnt even turned 3 yet he is pretty good. I know that gaming gets some bad press especially when it comes to younger children but I really think that it is good for Opeie's development. It's challenging, helps to finely tune his fine motor skills and his hand eye coordination has been amazing because of it, it's also great for strategic planning. We do so much with Opeie and he has such variety in his day to day activities that a little bit of gaming is nothing to worry about.

As I said at the start of the post I have a lot to thank Nintendo for and most recently something very unexpected, Nintendo's  participation in the cleaning of my boys teeth, we've always had a problem with Opeie when it came to cleaning his teeth but it seems that since having the 2ds to play with his dental hygiene has taken a pleasant turn and toothbrushing has now become effortless. Another win for Nintendo and a continuing dedicated following at Gifts from the Pirates.