Uno & Dos

Josie loves to play games. Josh and Josie play games nearly every night while I'm putting Jasper to bed. We started with Cootie, which quickly grew old for Daddio, then moved on to the snail game, Monopoly Junior (a little too long and tedious, just like Monopoly Senior), Chutes and Ladders, then Beans (a card game with kidney-bean-counters), plus occasional games of go fish and war. On Friday Josie found Uno in the cabinet. We tried to explain that it's for seven year olds, and that she could play it when she's older. Well, we usually don't give in to tears, but this time we thought that we could simplify the rules a bit for her. I figured that with the direction of play reversing, the skips, having to match by color or number, saying Uno, etc, it would just be too complicated. By Sunday night Josie had beaten us fairly...twice.
As for Jasper, he's really into pretend. He loves the little animal figures that Josie got him for Christmas, and we all have fun setting them up and having them interact. He also whips things up in the play kitchen, making pouring noises, stirring, and microwaving things to eat at the little table. I've been surprised by this, but attributed it to the fact that that is what he sees going on with the Senior Chef in the little kitchen. This morning, though, I was amazed to see him giving Josie's doll Annie a drink of water after he had one himself. Then he kissed and hugged her. I know he didn't pick this one up from his sister :)
...oh, and I forgot one more sign: penguin

ice skating pictures to come....