Beaten up by a 4 year old

I knew that one day Mars would be bigger, faster, and stronger than me.  And that eventually, he would most likely be better than me at video games.  It isn't supposed to happen at 4 though.

We started using the Wii again at retail shopping season when my family came to visit.  It had been largely collecting dust since the year before when the novelty wore off.  Mars and Odin were too little and after I finished Lego Star Wars there wasn't much that interested me in the way of games. 

Boxing proved to be the most popular.  The skill level was appropriate for a four year old - just flail your arms around.  He (and Odin) had lots of fun beating up dad.  I would pretend to try hard while he beat me like a red-headed step child.  Lots of pretend indignation from me and maniacal laughter from the two of them.

After a while, I figured he needed some life lessons.  Its easy to get a four year old to do what you want if you make it a contest - "who can get their shoes on fastest" when he is lollygagging instead of getting ready to go out works like a charm.  However, we were getting instances of him throwing a fit because he had to "win" every time.  So lesson 1 - you can't/don't always win, followed by lesson 2 - losing with grace.

So I figured I'd try just a little bit, make it a close win at the last minute, and talk through the result with him.  He beat me.  I tried a little harder.  He beat me.  I tried harder from the beginning instead of leaving the knockout until the last round.  He beat me.  I went all out to knock him on his little mii ass in the first round.  He beat me.  What the hell.  Something about his little wii boxing arm flail dance is particularly conducive to the game.  It is linked to the length of his arms (because I tried to imitate him without success).  We tried bowling.  I won.  He didn't care.

I had to read the manual, do the training mode, google some tips, and play single player a dozen times before I managed to eke out a win against him.  It was close, and he probably still beats me 3 times out of 4. 

He hasn't asked to play for a few weeks now, I think the novelty has worn off again.  Thankfully.

I've lost 20 pounds since April!

Which is pretty exciting, even though 10 of them were 'relost' since my last "I've lost 20 lbs" note in October '08, just before Odin was born. I ended up gaining 10 of those back eating cafeteria food while I was back at school for the winter. Getting under 200 has been a long and arduous battle, but I'm down to 190 pounds (from 220), my lightest in years. Still a long way off my twenty year 'normal' weight of 155. I think I'd like to be a healthy 180. Leaf has had a hard time losing pregnancy pounds this time, rather than just me. Dieting together is much easier. We made a deal that if we both meet our target weight, we'll buy a Wii.

Haven't really followed any special or fad diet, because they are all stupid and don't work. Cut out chips and candy, still drinking a lot of tea, and moderate exercise. I referee soccer twice a week (six to 10 thousand steps on my pedometer each game), and try to get out kayaking once or twice as well - usually about 6km each time. My secret for the last 5 pounds was stomach flu. I should start my own fad diet - the barf diet. Seriously, I'm surprised there aren't clinics where people can go to be deliberately infected with stomach flu and jabbed with an IV in order to lose weight. Maybe I should create one and become rich and famous and have Tom Vu-like infomercials. "You so fat!" "You come now I make you skinny, fat boy!"