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!
Great pictures!
ReplyDeleteThose are awesome pictures!
ReplyDeleteDo you call Ethan Boo Boo? Reid is Boo Boo, too. He's also Mr. Pants, and I just learned Sonya calls Isaiah Mr. Pants. Weird. :)
Oh, and that's so cute about the games. :) It doesn't surprise me that Rian would be good at Memory. He's so smart.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a good lesson to teach him... I seem to remember you throwing a few checker boards across the room after losing. :)
Yeah, I've been calling him Boo Boo, or sometimes just Boo. Lacey has picked up on it, and I'm told that over Thanksgiving it had even rubbed off on Bob!
ReplyDeleteI haven't thrown a checkers board in some time, but you should have seen what I did with Rian's stack of cards after he won. He can tell you how long it took to pick them all up afterward. I figure I'm teaching him another valuable lesson: always let Daddy win.
Beautiful pictures! That's great that Rian is so smart at Memory. I used to love that game, too.
ReplyDeleteWe called Eli Boo when he was a baby, too. I guess we still do, sometimes. :)