My kids? Competitive? Nah!

Tonight we were playing a card game with the kids. After a few rounds little Dario and Roman got tired of playing and decided to just watch Dario, Gabby, and me play the remainder of the game. The game was dragging on for a long while with no end in sight and I was trying to do things to make it easier for more cards to get played, but Dario would do no such thing. So since he was going to play for the win no matter what, Gabby and I decided to gang up and help each other just so he wouldn't win. In the meantime, little Dario decided that he was on his dad's team. He cheered and taunted and made an evil little laugh every time Dario made a good play. Well, Gabby and I managed to turn things our way, and as I was laying down the winning card, little Dario popped up off of his dad's lap and shouted, "I'm on Mommy's team!"

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Roman loves to do puzzles, so I spend a lot of time in his room these days assembling jungle animal scenes and the like. It can get kind of repetitive at times, so the other day I tried to spice things up a little. And for those of you who know me or read my blog on any sort of a regular basis, you'll know that I love to tease my kids. So we were putting together a puzzle and when it got down to the last piece I grabbed it and put it in place really fast and shouted, "I win!" Roman really got into it after that and it became a contest as to who could get the last piece. But after a few rounds of that things began to get out of hand. Roman started to get really ticked off when I'd grab the last piece, and he'd start screaming. So I explained to him that puzzles aren't really for winning or losing and that it was just fun to do them together. He agreed and we started another puzzle. When it got down to the last piece I had it in my hand and, trying to make sure I had gotten my point across, I said, "Am I going to win when I put this piece in?" I was glad to see that he understood when he shook his head and replied, "No. Puzzles aren't for winning mommy. They're just for fun." After that answer I knew that he had understood so as a gesture of good will I handed him the last piece and said, "Here Roman. You want to put it in?" "Sure," he nodded. Then he took the piece and, frantically shoving it in place, screamed, "I WIN!"