Switching places..

It is a Saturday evening and we are back after an early dinner. The day was lazy, an uneventful one and we are not the least inclined to sleep. Somehow that always happens to me, I am never drowsy when I have nothing to do. Not surprisingly, the converse is equally true. So me and husband decide to play cards. Daughter dearest has had her meals and is playing contently with her set of blocks. But as soon as we get the cards, even before we can shuffle them, she loses all interest in her blocks and takes away the pack from us. Now, anybody with a 20 month or older kid would agree there is not much that can be done in this state. We simply leave her with the playing cards and start thinking of alternatives. Not a big issue, really.. we settle for monopoly. I acknowledge it is not much fun with just 2 players, but then compromise is the way to peaceful co-existence, ain't? We start dividing the paper money between us, and before either of us reach $20, baby Ninja strikes again! Our little lady mixes business with pleasure, quite literally. She takes the paper money, and title cards and shuffles them both with the playing cards. We exchange furtive glances, the big question looms large before us. What next?? Surely, as parents we cannot accept defeat, at least not this early in life. Husband suggests that we play carrom, but even before he finishes the sentence, we both giggle in a knowing way and drop the idea. We know that will not work. My daughter has a slightly different way of playing carrom. She simply climbs on the board and sits in the middle, with the carrom men all around her. Then she showers individual attention on each man and knocks them all out very conveniently, without as much as touching the striker. The battle is getting serious. And exciting. Rockband is actually a nice option but for the fact that it is almost 10 pm, and the neighbours are not that understanding. Not that we care for such uncooperative neighbours, but the closest one happens to be our landlord as well.. and so you can imagine.. sigh! Both of us sit grimly, on the verge of an imminent defeat when my husband comes up with an idea. The best he has had in a long time.. or so I think :P We decide to beat the little kiddo in her own game. Yes, literally again. So while our daughter plays with our pack of cards and monopoly set, we settle down with her set of blocks. We bet on designing the weirder stuff with those blocks. Since it requires little creativity, no brains and a lot of oddity, my husband invariably wins :) The picture attached is that of the 'Train Tower', I am not sure what that means, that he made. A closer look, and you can see our little imp too, submerged in a sea of cards..