In a nutshell, John decided he would rather change A's poopy diaper than subject himself to another game of Chutes and Ladders with E. First reason, for the first 50 or so rounds that we played with her, she didn't fully grasp the concept that Slide = Bad. Therefore, games would last forever. Second reason, E cheats ... a lot. She spins and spins until she gets a number that she likes (often one that would allow her to go down a slide, see Reason 1). Then she "forgets" about your turn. Then she decides that she wants to be Backpack and you should be Dora...now she wants to be Dora and you be Backpack again. The constant chaos and lack of rule-following is enough to send this OCD mama over the edge. I found myself cheating right back...letting her skip entire rows and telling her she had rolled enough to get up a ladder just to get the game to end.
Luckily, the weather was nice so we actually got to use the real-life chute and ladder in our back yard. A, like her big sister, is fearless. She can now climb up the ladder and go down the slide pretty much by herself. She also loves the swing and tried to pull the cover off the sandbox to get in. Today, we ended up at a neighbor's backyard with all of the other kids and she was quite perturbed that she couldn't figure out their rock-climbing wall. She just stood there hanging onto the holds, screeching and staring at me like, "Lady! Get me up this wall thing!"
Tomorrow, it's supposed to close to 70 round these parts. I'm hoping that the good weather will change A's tune about the Toddler class, since they go outside onto the playground (they didn't in the infants room). On a happier note, she was pretty good when I dropped her off on Friday. She more or less yelled in protest than cried, which was nice. I'll keep you posted how it goes tomorrow.
9 comments:
Harrison is the same way about that game...he gets so hyper and carried away with sliding...it must be that 3 year old attention span thing going on...
Games are a nightmare- we have candyland cards all over the house. We got Chutes and Ladders for Chriatmas, it is in hiding! I am really excited for the weather tomorrow- hope A's day goes well.
This is us w/ Candyland. I have hidden it and refuse to pull it out until I am desperate for entertainment.
I also love how every game for this age group comes with a minimum of 1000 pieces. It is hard enough keeping track of the larger toys... those little cards and stuff drive me nuts. By the way I cheat too... Yeah, you won! Let's put it away now.
You crack me up. BTW, I love the crossed out text thingie you do so perfectly!
From years of playing these games in therapy before being subjected to my own kids, my words of advice is rig the cards in Candy Land and stay away from Chutes and Ladders until they can explain the consequences in the pictures (not sure what pictures Dora has, I'm used to the classic version). People keep trying to buy it for her and I keep telling them "no thank you". Had to get the Candy Castle game for Jake this Christmas since he's desperate to play the real deal with Rachel. So far, so good. Loved the scenes in "Goodnight Nobody" where she complained about playing Candy Land over and over until she cracked!
Wow! Who knew games were sooo intense for toddlers!!! It sounds like it would be better to pull out the playdough with that hair thing coming out those holes just to distract them.
...and I thought drums were a bad gift.
Nonna
WOA! Who would have thought that a simple game like Chutes and Ladders would provoke this kind of response? I guess it is pretty evident that I am NOT a mom. Oh well, sorry for the disaster . . . it seems like E likes it though. Can't wait to play with her on my next visit!
Kiki
Kiki...she LOVES it. And, if you are lucky, it eventually evolves into a round of pretend play with everyone going down the slides.
This was cute...the pawns are the same as with Candyland. When she saw that, she said "Hey, it's the Candyland guys!"
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