Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Dinosaur Madness

Today I had a vision (albeit brief) of a future where the kids entertain each other playing games! Doesn't this look idyllic?! It's more often Jake & Bentley that play a game, and it doesn't always end well. Jake & Viva was a new combination and it went surprisingly well!

I should have taken notes on their conversation while playing, as it was quite hilarious. Maybe next time. At one point Jake said "Viva you're a maniac"! And she asked him if he had a particular card and he said "I most certainly do not". :-)

I picked up a set of Dinosaur cards at a recent curriculum fair here in town. The boys are in love with them. You can play Memory (a long torturous version, depending on your skills!), Go Fish, Old Maid... we play Memory and Go Fish. The boys (and Viva somewhat!) are awesome with all the dinosaur names. Frankly all the dinosaurs look a bit alike to me... which leaves me at a distinct disadvantage when playing Memory with 47 cards (there is 1 TRex, and if you get him he is an auto pair even on his own!).

This afternoon Bentley was off at Grandma Karen's and Jake made his daily (or twice a day or three times a day?!) request to play the Dinosaur game. Viva decided to humor him. I don't think they've ever played alone together. I didn't expect Viva to stick with it, as she has a tendency to walk off during long games - a habit I'm trying to break her of. They amazed me, however, and played the entire game of Go Fish. With no tears. Jake did sound a bit irked a few times when he had to repeat (loudly) "Your turn, Viva"! But other than that it was all good.

Even more amazingly they set up a game of Memory when they finished Go Fish. And they both ended up with 12 pairs and happily declared they were both winners. I guess they decided not to include TRex in the totals, as Viva found him first and didn't pick him up. She told Jake "I don't like the big dinosaurs, I don't want him in my hand".

Works for me!

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