Which Would You Rather?

Mitchell has started a new game, one that has caught on with Ben and now a day does not go by where I don't find them playing it. It is a silly game they play while they are supposed to be eating dinner and one they play while running endless errands with me in the car. It is called, "Would you rather?" and it goes something like this:

Hey Ben! Would you rather have no skin or eat poop?

Hey Mitchell! Would you rather live on the roof or in the Cheez-it box?

Would you rather ride in a cool car or fly yourself?

Would you rather be an orange or a stinky sock?

Would you rather eat stinky cheese or cucumbers?

Would you rather be eaten by a sharp tooth or smell a stinky flower?

Would you rather get a rock thrown at your head or be dropped by a dragon?

Would you rather get thrown off a dragon or sit down and relax?

(I promise these are the boys' very words. I just sat down with them and typed as they talked.)

The options get wilder and wilder and often depend on what their surroundings are. If we are in the car, the options are usually car-related. In the kitchen, we begin with food and just get sillier and sillier.

The funny thing is, I actually remember playing this game when I was a kid too! I didn't introduce them to this game though; it came from the mind of Mitchell, as many of our silliest practices do.

Works Every Time!

Jack, like many babies, is not at his best in the evenings. He is quite high maintenance the hour or two before bed time and the whole family spends quite a bit of energy either trying to ignore the crankiness or distract him from it.

There is one thing that always works though, not just in the evenings to distract him, but all day long because it is his favorite game!

I have a large, heavy quilt in my living room that I must fold and put back on the back of the couch a dozen or more times a day because Jack is obsessed with putting it over his head! He absolutely LOVES the game of peek-a-boo, but no minor covering of eyes or face will do for him. He must completely cover his entire body with this heavy quilt, then frantically try to untangle himself from it, emerging finally with a sweaty head, huge grin, and a loud "BOO!" or, more often, "BOE!" He loves this game so much, that any time he comes around the corner, he shouts, "BOO!" at anyone he sees. He says "BOO!" when I open the door to his room after a sleep. If anyone he knows says "Hi" to him, he responds, "BOO!"

So any time Jack starts to get cranky, we tell him to go get the blanket and he will come stumbling or crawling to us with a giant quilt, ready to be buried. He loves it even more if you will get in with him, which works out well for Mitchell, who loves to do that with him!

I've Got A Potion For That!

Mitchell tends to not play by the rules.  I am not referring to family rules or being obedient to his parents.  I am referring to play time "rules."  Ben usually has a very specific game plan when it comes to what he wants to play, complete with characters and a plot, and likes the rest of us to fall in line with that plan.  

I am not sure if it because Mitchell doesn't like being told how to play by his big brother anymore, or if part of him just loves to get under Ben's skin in this way, but while Ben is busy making the rules of the game, Mitchell is just as busy changing them to his own liking.  

Oh!  You say I have to turn into a dragon now?  Well, I didn't!  I'm still a car!  

No, I won't get in the closet!  That's a jail and I am not going to be the bad guy anymore!  I am a helicopter pilot!

The gun can't shoot me because I am magic!

No, the lava doesn't burn me, I have lava-proof boots on!

This new exertion of independence on Mitchell's part has thrown Ben and me a bit of a curve ball and we are trying to find a way to get back to the harmonious playtime that once was the norm.  It is tough to all play together when one of us is so bent on "breaking the rules" and "doing his own thing."

A perfect example of Mitchell turning the game in whatever direction he chooses is by use of "potions."  He really has a potion for just about any ailment Ben can concoct!  If Ben kills him, he whips out his "alive potion."  If Ben breaths fire on him, he drinks his "fire-proof potion" and is safe.  If Ben turns him into a dragon, he drinks his "potion" and becomes a skeleton instead.  

He does this with me as well.  If I dare to invent my own character or, God forbid, don't stick to the script of what I am allowed to say in the game, he just fixes it with a potion.  I could be shot with flaming arrows and killed immediately, but if I dare shoot one back, well, there's a potion for that, you can be sure.  

The Exercise Game

Matt and the boys have started a new nightly routine: they call it "The Exercise Game." It's a "dude thing," which means no moms allowed, but I was privileged to get to observe tonight. I don't laugh out loud very often, so this was quite a treat for me!

The rules are pretty simple: draw a card from a deck and whatever number you get, that is the number of times you perform an exercise of your choice. Matt, Ben, and Mitchell take turns drawing cards and coming up with an exercise for them all to do.

Tonight, they did 21 different exercises. Don't think young boys can come up with that many different types of exercise? Well, they began with some normal sounding ones such as squats, leg-lifts, push-ups, and lunges, but then started getting a bit more creative. Ben's turns resulted in exercises named dinosaur leg lifts and pooping dogs, but at least the activity to go with them closely resembled a more traditional type of exercise.

Mitchell's turns got funnier and funnier (to me at least. The guys were all taking them quite seriously.) He invented exercises with names like breeps, proos, bleems, and blaxopes; and the corresponding actions to go with these names were even funnier. There were spin moves and jumps and kicks and flexing, always with claw-like fingers and sound effects. He'd draw his number card, invent his exercise, demonstrate it to the other two, and around the living room they'd go - mimicking Mitchell's every move, as if it was a perfectly normal exercise routine. It was hilarious!

The nightly exercise game is always followed by a glass of milk (to help the muscles grow, doncha know) and some good "dude talk." Oh, it was an entertaining evening.