Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Letters and Numbers

After the bathroom construction, I woke up to find these letters perched above the new bathroom door:


That's...unfortunate.  It's better now:

Last night Tommy set up a game night ("I feel really good inside right now," he announced during yahtzee.  Could you die?) and it was so fun!  It's pretty challenging to have any kind of game with both Scotty and Tommy at the same time.

Part of the issue is the age difference.  Tommy is five years older than Scotty, and he can legitimately play lots of board games, keep his own score, and understand rules.  Scotty...cannot.  Not only that, but Scotty is a punk.  Honestly, he's so competitive!  And what a poor sport!  That kid can't stand to lose. 

It's funny, Tommy was never like that.  He's always been so sweet.  Even as a toddler, the typically obnoxious ego-centric stage, he was always the best sharer.  Look, Scotty is also sweet, don't get me wrong, but he just cares  about winning so much!  When Tommy was little, I used to always let him win everything.  Erik never did.  He taught him to play chess when he was four years old, and they've always played video games together.  Whatever they do, he may pull back a little, but he never 'lets' him win.  It wasn't long before Tommy was legitimately pwning him on Mario Cart and he's a pretty outstanding chess player, too.  I've always thought that Erik's gaming philosophy (encouraging, but not condescending) helped to create Tommy's balanced attitude towards playing, winning, and losing.

But now that I've met Scotty, I have to believe some of that is just hard-wired.  He's exhausting!  And 'game night' was no different.  OH DEAR.  It took us a while to find a rhythm that worked, but in the end, Erik, Tommy and I played a round of the dice game, and Scotty "recorded" scores on a scratch sheet of paper.  "That's 12 on the fours," I'd tell him, scooping up the dice and passing the cup to Tommy.  "Got it!" Scotty would report, while carefully scribing sweet little scribbles inside a random box on the scoring page. 

Good times. 

5 comments:

  1. You know, speaking from experience, it's hard to be the younger sibling of an amazing older brother or sister. It makes you very competitive. Not that I ever upset any game boards or stomped out of the room or threw things or anything.

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  2. REAM ahahahahahahaha

    Yes, board games. I'm still waiting for my punks to get there...

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  3. They are such a mystery! How do they come out with such personalities?? Amazing.

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  4. i love this post.
    (hope all is ok.)
    xox
    -m

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  5. Thanks Michelle! My computer was not cooperating, and, um, I was tired. :)

    Oh Maia-ita, you have no idea! It was great talking to you (always!!) and I'll get that letter signed for you. :)

    Brit ~ it takes so long! We still pretty much stick to card games...go fish works, and Scotty loves to play 'concentration' too.

    Laurie ~ Laurie!!!! Such a treat. :) I can't picture that at all! Though, I think that kind of spunk COULD come in handy as a kindergarten teacher. Just saying.

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