The Wii and Mii

We finally (as Emily would say) set up our Wii last weekend.


Hooking it up was easy. Creating our Miis was a whole different project and it took more than 1 hour. For the Wii uninitiated, a Mii is an avatar or virtual representation of yourself. You can be as simple or fancy as you like. It told me a lot about each personality in our house.

Emily was first (of course). My first born and boss of the house. At least she'd like to think so. She was most concerned with being the biggest, brightest and best. "I want to make sure I can win!" she said. That's my kid. Wonder where she gets that from?

Jessie was up next. The order of operations in my house has been decided by "tummy order" i.e. the order that they exited my tummy. I'm not sure how that was determined, but I'm sure Emily was somewhere behind that ruling. Jess is my athlete. Not sure where she inherited those genes. Neither me or my husband is particularly well coordinated. I get a vicarious thrill watching my little girl kick some booty when she is out on the playing field. "How do I make a fast Mii, Mommy?" she asked. "I'm not sure." I answered. "That's not good!" she said. "Can you Google it?" Why does a 5 year old even have Google in her vocabulary? Somehow she created a sporty looking Mii with her hair in pig tails, so her hair doesn't get in the way. There you have my Jess. Don't ask her to wear a dress or do her hair. Just make sure she is fast.

Next in the line up was Catie. Cate is my total fashionista. Again, not sure where this talent came from. I cannot pull an outfit together to save my life. She spent 20 minutes finding the right hairstyle, glasses (she doesn't wear glasses but thought they were a good accessory) and the appropriately colored outfit. Again, I was impressed with my kid. She looked fabulous. (Katya - would have been proud). Three down three to go.

Henry did not have much of an opinion. He just wanted to hold the remote. Clearly a testosterone related activity. All men like to hold the remote. We gave Henry a skull cap and big brown eyes. He lost interest after he figured out we had removed the batteries from his remote and abandoned the effort to play with his trains.

Tom was next and he said "You handle it!" when we told him it was his turn. Yeah right. That's what he always says about most remodeling projects around the house too. Then as soon as I get started he has to come in and start managing it. We were on our way when he came in to tweak his Mii. He didn't like the eyes, beard or nose. He changed around the shirt colors. (To be fair the Mii we created did look surprisingly like one of Santa's elves). He found more features and options than we had seen. I hated to admit it but his Mii was pretty cool. That's the story of the dance we do when working together. His ideas are good, take a long time, annoy me and the end result is better. I hate that part.

I was next. Now when you create a Mii you can make it look any way you want. It is supposed to be an image of you, but I am boring. I wanted a cool, hip, THIN Mii. I started off with blond hair and cool cats eyes glasses. I always wanted to be a hip blond. "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I heard from my posse. "What? Why?" I said. "That doesn't look like you!" they said. "But I want to look cool!" I explained. (Once again I am explaining myself to the short people in my house - I really need to look at that). "But you're not cool - you're Mommy!" said Emily. Thanks for that Em, when you want the truth ask a kid. I gave in and created a boring, predictable Mii. It bothered me for a while. "That's not fair!" I thought and realized I sounded like them. But as is the custom I got caught up in my day and forgot about it.

Until they were in bed that is. In the blissfull silence of my house - with all of the kids asleep and my husband dozing on the couch I turned the Wii back on. I pulled up my boring Mii. Yup, I thought. That does kind of look like me. It's not so bad I consoled myself. But I heard that voice again "That's not fair". I hit the edit button. I may be living the life of a desperate housewife in suburbia, but at least on the Wii I can take a walk on the wild side.

I made myself a blond again. I got back my cool cats eyes glasses. I put on a bright pink dress and gave myself big eyes with long eyelashes. I liked the new Mii. My secret virtual Mii. And she has thin thighs.