Am I the only one here wishing that summer would never come to an end?? Seriously, Julia - snowmen?!? No thank you!
In addition to drawing pictures, Julia also put some hard work into a home-made game called "Guessing":
She and I got to play it together, and it was BARRELS of fun. I was handed my player pieces; Julia had created two strips of paper for each person in our family, and upon each was the name of a character from "Harry Potter." Here were mine:
I wasn't entirely sure what the rules of the game were going to be, but I wondered if we were supposed to act out our characters so the other person could guess who we were being.
Turns out it was much simpler than that.
JULIA: Okay, Mom. So this is how you play. You have to guess WHAT CHARACTERS the other person has. So, Mom. Do you have Neville?
ME: Uh, yup.
JULIA: Okay. Mom, do you have Seamus?
ME: Yes! You got it!
What a genius. I'm starting to think she's telepathic. How else could she have guessed the exact two names she had JUST written down on my strips of paper???
Then it was time for me to guess what two characters were on Julia's pieces of paper. It didn't take any magical powers to deduce which two names she had assigned to herself.
The game was over in about two seconds. Let me tell you, this game is going to be a best-seller when it hits the toy stores. IT. WAS. A. BLAST.
Today, while Julia was pooping on the potty behind closed doors, Madeleine discovered the strips of "Gesing" paper that had been designated for her:
MADELEINE: Hey Mama! Look what I found! Mama, is this MINE? It SAYS "Madeleine!"
At least someone in the family was excited about "Gesing." Madeleine was all gung-ho ready to play. Except that she didn't know that the strips of paper had been designed by Julia to go with the "Gesing" game, and instead came up with her own idea about them. As soon as Julia emerged from the bathroom, Madeleine was ready to share her joyful excitement about playing "Stripes."
MADELEINE: (holding out her strips of paper, delighted) Julia! Wanna play "STRIPES?"
JULIA: Madeleine! That's MIIIIINE! Put it back RIGHT NOW!
MADELEINE: Well Julia. This is just mine.
JULIA: (shrilly) Madeleine! PUT IT BACK! That's NOT YOURS.
ME: (intervening) Julia! USE YOUR MANNERS.
JULIA: Madeleine, PLEASE go put that back. Please don't touch that. I made it, so PLEASE don't touch it.
MADELEINE: Well Julia. I made this for a game called "Stripes."
JULIA: (in a blood-curdling shriek) IT'S NOT CALLED STRIPES!!!
ETHAN: (sternly) Julia. WHAT is going on?
JULIA: (near hysteria) Madeleine's saying that's HERS and it's for a game called "Stripes" and it's NOT called "Stripes." It's called "GUESSING!"
ETHAN: Okay. Is it really that big a deal?
JULIA: YES!
Wow. I was certainly not aware of the level of major hysteria Julia would reach upon Madeleine mistakenly thinking the strips of paper were hers. Yikes. I guess when you come up with a winner of a game on the level of "Gesing," there's simply NO WAY you're willing to share the credit.
Madeleine should have pointed out to Julia that the strips had *her* name on them, so obviously they were hers. (And actually, *I* probably would have done that in our house and created even more hysteria. Sometimes I can't resist.)
ReplyDeleteClara looks really good as a snowman!!!
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