Almost Everything is Mario

Prince has definitely got Mario on the brain. Pop and Jule got him a Mario game for DS just before we left. He enjoyed it [pictured].

Then we got our transformers to charge the DS, found out the Wii doesn't work, and instituted a new set of rewards for Prince. Instead of X's on charts that signify he hadn't been bad, we now give him "Prince points" when he is actively good out of his alphabet blocks. It does a much better job of encouraging good behavior, and that cuts down on the negatives too. He has started helping us put things on the table for meals and cleaning up again because he gets points for each of those.

5 points means he can either watch Backyardigans' Tale of the Mighty Knights or play on the DS for 15 minutes. Lately the DS has been winning. Winning so much that all his toys have turned into Mario Friends. In this version, Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Peach have all been captured by Bowser and put in cages. It's up to Yoshi to free them one by one.

Mickey friends are Mario friends: Minnie is Mario because she wears red. Donald is Luigi. Pluto is Yoshi. I forget who Mickey is. Who is Mickey, Prince? "Mickey is Bowser, but Bowser is outside the castle, Mickey is Bowser outside the castle. Goofy is a little Toad."
All his plushes are Mario friends: Mario and Luigi are themselves; Sorcerer Mickey is Wario; "Mickey Colors" is Yoshi; Tyrone is Princess Peach.
Pixar's Cars are Mario friends: the green car in the final race is Bowser; Mater is a goomba. I think that is a wonderful color choice, personally. "Lightning McQueen is not a Mario friend." Neither is King, apparently.
Prince is all of them rolled into one. Sometimes I get to be Luigi. Sometimes Mommy is Luigi, sometimes Peach, sometimes Toad.
Red and green baby books are a Mario game and a Luigi game. A toy hairbrush is a DS. On and on it goes.

He has started for the first time doing what I remember doing through much of my childhood: enacting his games throughout the house. He pulled up chairs to block the hallway, declaring he needs enough superstars or keys to get through the door; identifying where the castle is; putting toys in various cages so he can free them; and buying stars from Bowser for coins. Yesterday at Yakubu's, he sat on the floor using a shopping basket to imprison and then rescue Nemo (Mario). Nemo was sadly lost somewhere in the modern market, though, so "I don't call him Mario anymore."