Games

Yikes, it's been a while. Sorry about that. My work/life balance has been decidedly unbalanced recently, so this space has been the unfortunate recipient of a lack of attention--hopefully this will be corrected in the next few weeks, when I try to squirrel away some time in between car rides to/from NJ, big dinners, and last-minute holiday shopping to write about what's been going on here. I think I have some pretty good stories to share.

I think Andres has turned a corner with Celia. With each passing day he seems more and more happy that she is around. Granted, they still have their arguments--such as when she tries to eat one of his trucks, or takes one of her own toys away from him--but generally they have been on good terms. I've even caught them playing together...and not just tolerating each other, but actually engaged in the same game, both totally cracking up.

The first time this happened was a couple weeks ago. It was after dinner/before bedtime, and both kids were playing in Andres' room (sidenote: Andres has made it quite clear that he does not appreciate it when I say "Celia's room"). Things seemed fine. And then I heard some laughter, and more laughter, and then shrieks of laughter. I took a peek at what was happening. Here was the game: Andres would run out of his room and go into the hallway. Celia would begin to crawl after him, but just as she reached the doorway, Andres would run back into his room, going right by Celia. She would laugh and follow him again. He would laugh and run out, causing Celia to laugh again. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Since then, they have played a few similar games. They usually involve Andres doing something silly and Celia laughing in response. Neither of them seems to get bored of laughing.

A couple nights ago I was hanging out with Andres while I had Celia in the bath. One of us started fake yelling (probably me), and Celia caught on pretty quick--the game was on.



It went on for a while longer.

We live in modern times now, and I had taken this video with my phone. Since he is conditioned to believe that every image ever taken is immediately available, on demand, on any mobile device, Andres wanted to see the video that I had just taken. I obliged. He thought the video was at least as funny as the game that he had just been playing with his sister, and started cracking up again when he watched it. He watched it again, again, and again. Soon, Celia wanted to know what was going on, so she started watching too...which meant that I was watching both kids laughing as they watched the video of themselves cracking up 3 minutes prior. Games indeed.