Chutes and Ladders

Typically, the girls start their morning by snuggling up on the couch to watch "Curious George" while eating their breakfast:

This morning, however, they decided to change things up and play a game of Chutes & Ladders:

And WOW, did they show off their mastery and complete comprehension of the game.  From the moment Madeleine showed me the game board, it was clear that she really gets what's going down:

MADELEINE: Mommy, is this a book?
ME: No, honey, that's a board.
MADELEINE: (brightly) Oh, it's a BOARD!  I'm just really GOOD at doing boards!

Julia then chimed in with her expertise: "Mommy, why is this game called 'Chutes and Ladders?'  Because you SHOOT down the slide super fast?"

As they started their game of "Shoots" and Ladders, Julia quickly became frustrated by her inability to make progress in the game due to her sister's figurine being in the way.  Unaware of the fact that she could actually just move around Madeleine's figure, Julia lamented her fate: "Ugh, Mama, I have to wait ANOTHER TURN before I can go.  Mommy, do you know why I have to wait another turn?  Because I rolled SIX, but Madeleine went twice and only rolled ONE each time, so I have to wait until she moves farther before I can even go six spots!"

And so the two girls continued putting forth their mastermind talent in their game of Shoots and Ladders, played on a book, in which the person whose figurine is further ahead of the other remains ahead for the entire rest of the game, despite what her opponent rolls. 

Before I post, I must switch gears entirely and return to yesterday's subject of random associations, as I have egregiously omitted one of Madeleine's most random musings.  Sitting on my lap at Julia's swim lesson recently, she suddenly turned to look at me, and we had this conversation:

MADELEINE: Mommy, are you... a BEAR?
ME: Yup.  I'm a bear.
MADELEINE: No, you're not a bear!  You're just MAMA COURTNEY ELF.

And with that, this bear is signing off...