Saturday, October 18, 2008

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..

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Good one, and I'm glad that you wrote after such a long gap, and wrote very well. Though I experience some of these gimmicks myself, and hear some others directly from you, I really enjoy reading them here too. Keep writing :)

Indigo said...

Cool! Two adults against a baby...I feel so much for the poor child. But hey, you guys started playing to divert her from cards and get her interested in her own blocks, but doesn't the picture say otherwise? And of your defeat?

Violet said...

Ashes : Thanks. This is one of the reasons why I write posts about my daughter. I too enjoy reading them at a later point of time, its like reliving her infancy.

Indigo : Yes, we started off with that motive, but then we started enjoying it. I don't remember playing with blocks in the last 20 yrs :P As for the defeat, you get ready for that the moment you have a baby.. it is routine for us, sigh!

Unknown said...

Hey...just noticed it the second time I read...Ain't it sounds better in ...is the way to peaceful co-existence, ain't?, ain't it? Though I am not very sure about the usage of ain't...I think it is the same way as isn't it, isn't it?

Indigo said...

I know that kind of defeat and the joy it gives. :) I have been experiencing that for the past two years myself.

Violet said...

Ashes : Am not sure of that, it is anyways an old and outdated word. Wonder why I use it..

Indigo : Oh, do you have a daughter too? My daughter will be 2years old in a couple of months. Our kids can be friends.. btw, her email id is pari_jain@rocketmail.com :D

Indigo said...

Yes, my daughter will turn two this month.

Sure they can be friends. Let our daughters start blogging...:P