Playtime with Irelynn

We sat around the gameboard, waiting for the toddler to make her first move. She had meticulously prepared for the game...choosing colors for everyone, coaxing her father out of bed to join the game, yelling at the cat, Dobby, to get off the board, and setting the pile of cards neatly off to the side. Dobby settled for sitting next to the board to my right, waiting for his chance to play.

The game began. It started off well...Irelynn drew her color, went to her space, and patiently waited for each of us to take our turn. Then...well, the game was not going quite how she wanted. The rules began to change.

"I get blue...no...I want..." she begins shuffling through the top five cards, "um...double purple. I get double purple! Yay!"

I go to reach for a card, but she quickly hands me one.

"You get blue!"

It was at about this point that Dobby decided to enter the game. He reached out a paw, wrapped his claws around Bruce's game piece, and moved it up a couple rows. Bruce snatched it back.

"I get...um...double orange! Yay!"

Dobby moves Bruce's piece forward again. Bruce moves it back.

"Yellow! Yay!" Her hand flies up with the yellow card, smacking me in the head.

"Um...I want to be green guy now." She trades game pieces.

Dobby goes to make his move again, and Irelynn intervenes, knocking down the pile of cards. I go to straighten them up, with her calling the cat out on his cheating.

I notice that she is getting close to the end. We try to coax her to choose her cards quickly, in anticipation of finishing the game.

It is time for her her turn again, but she picks up her baby doll, who is wearing a Backyardigans kneepad.

"Daddy? You feed my baby?" She hands him a plastic jalepeno pepper. She began feeding her other doll a plastic french fry. So ended Candyland.

Later she asked to have her toenails painted. Bruce agreed to do it, as I was giving Connor a bath. After his bath, she wanted to paint my toenails. I set out a towel, and let her cover my nails with sparkly fuchsia paint. She actually didn't do too bad...I think she might be more coordinated than her 11-year-old sister. Somehow she also convinced Bruce and Marissa to let her do their nails. Jaylond was another story. I think she is still chasing him around the house with blue nail polish.

"Just a little bit, Jay Jay? I paint your nails?"

"NO! I SAID NO!"

Oh well...perhaps she will convince him to play Candyland instead.