I've Got a Red Ticket!

I fixed our Wii yesterday, saving us the $85 we were ready to spend to send it in to Nintendo to have it repaired. It stopped working last week, which was a disappointment because the girls had just started playing it quite a bit. The top games have been:

1. A Disney princess game Lydia got for Christmas. Her favorite part is changing what her princess looks like, switching the eyes from blue to brown to purple(?), changing her dress, jewelry, hair color, etc. She then goes out into the actual part of the game where you’re supposed to do something, wave the Wii controller around and then complain that the magic isn’t working and asks me to do it for her.
2. Wii Sport Resort. Lydia really likes the biking part, especially making her biker go so fast that she turns blue and keels over. Both girls do well with a sword game where they cut things, which is a little worrisome.
3. Wii Just Dance Kids. This is hilarious to watch them play. Audrey hasn’t quite caught on to the fact that she has to hold the Wii remote when she plays, and after every song will yell, “I got none!” This game was supposed to be a Valentine’s Day gift, and I asked Jayson to get it a few weeks ago when it was on sale at Target. I came home from school to Lydia holding it up, saying, “Did you want to save this for something?”

So, this past week when the Wii stopped working, it was very sad. I decided to try a lens cleaning disk and liquid air before sending it in. The Wii would not read the lens cleaning disk, so I sprayed some liquid air in the slot, and put the lens cleaning disk in again. No luck. However, when the Wii spit it back out, there was a ticket on it! I would have thought my Wii was dispensing magical raffle tickets, if not for the fact that it was the same type of ticket Grandma Deb had brought the girls a couple weeks ago.

I believe that every time Grandma Deb visits, she plays a sick game of scouring the stores for the toy that has the most pieces, with bonus points for pieces small enough for Charlie to put in her mouth. Being that Charlie’s favorite items to put in her mouth are shoes and paper, Grandma Deb really hit the jackpot with the raffle tickets.

As soon as I pulled the ticket out, I called for Lydia to come into the room, and explained to her the reason the Wii was not working. I could see the wheels spinning in her head. Which sister would she blame? Would she throw in the added lie of, “I told her not to do it, but she did it anyway!”? Before she could speak, I raised a finger and said, “Do NOT lie to me.” She looked at the ground and admitted she had done it. We told her we were very angry she did it, but proud of her for telling the truth. She said, “I just didn’t know that you couldn’t put tickets in it.” I paused for a moment, wondering if it’s possible that in a 4 year-old’s mind it might actually be unclear that raffle tickets do not belong in electronic devices. Nah. She knew.