One of Rian's favorite games is Memory. He usually plays with Lacey, because I don't really like that game, but today we decided to play - just him and me.
Now, something you should keep in mind is that I am a fairly competitive person. I let Rian win at some games, but not so much that he thinks his dad can be beaten consistently by a 5 year-old. The thing that I try to teach him whenever we're playing games is that you can have fun whether you're winning or losing, and how to win and lose with grace.
So one reason I don't let him win very often is to teach him how to lose, but the other reason is because he just doesn't need much help most of the time. He has an uncanny ability to roll sixes in Trouble, and in Candyland, somehow I always end up getting the card that pulls me all the way back to the beginning, while he gets the cards that pull him closer to the end (you just don't know what it's like to be frustrated until you've been pulled back to the Gingerbread Tree multiple times in a single game of Candyland).
A few years ago when he was learning how to play Memory, we would help him by leaving cards flipped over or helping him find matches, but these days he plays by the same rules that I do, and these rules are strictly enforced. We played two games today, the first of which I won by a single pair. He definitely held his own in the game, and may have even won if I hadn't run the table with four cards remaining. The second game, however, had a very different outcome.
As we play, we stack our cards up in a pile and then compare the stacks at the end. In this picture, Rian is comparing his stack to mine to determine the outcome. Needless to say, he won by a landslide.
And, while I'm at it, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving and from around the house.
Ruby on the phone
Lily
Ethan as a foot rest
Boo Boo!
Here we are, two days before Christmas, and I feel like the big day should still be a month away. I finally got around to taking some Christmas pictures over the weekend. Rian has always been pretty photogenetic [sic - he gets it from me ;)] and cooperative when it's time to take pictures. Ethan, on the other hand, is a different story.
When it came time to take pictures, Ethan wasn't really in a mood to sit still. I hope you can't tell from the pictures, but he was only still for about half of a second for every 10, and when he was still, there was no telling where he would be looking. Babies just aren't good at posing for pictures, but of course the baby is usually what everyone wants to see.
Ruby on the phone
Lily
Ethan as a foot rest
Boo Boo!
