Uno and its wonderful lessons....

Last night the girls were begging us to play a game with them, but Greg was trying to fix dinner and I was attempting to study. We have begun to have "family game night" every night after dinner as a way to keep the girls up longer (to help Mara) while still keeping them from bouncing off the walls. It has gone very well-so well that the girls are constantly begging us to play a game every time they see us :) Mara wakes up from her nap often yelling "GAME!" It's rather comical.

Anyway, back to last night. Feeling somewhat guilty because I had the nerve to try and have some time alone while the girls were still up, I got down a pack of Uno cards and gave them each 1/2 of the cards. I waited around a bit to see what they were each going to do, as I really didn't want them to be thrown around the living room.

But they surprised me! Mara began sorting her cards by color, placing all the reds, blues, yellows and greens into piles. She even had a pile for all the Wild cards! She would hold a card up to me and I would smile, not wanting to become too involved, as I was really enjoying just watching her work.

Analese spread all of her cards onto the floor and then went to work, gathering up all the numbers and placing lines of 1s, 2s, 3s, etc. As she worked, I could see her mind began working overtime, as she then began making rows of patterns, choosing each card carefully by its color.

Mara, seeing what her sister had done, also began making a straight line with her cards, and eventually both girls were up, jumping over that line, giggling and laughing.

I never made it back to study, but I cannot say I didn't learn anything right then. My girls amaze me every day by showing me how to think outside the box, how much fun simple cards can be through their eyes. I am reminded to just sit back, and just give them the freedom they need to explore and discover all on their own. They are grasping all they need to know, all on their own.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mara update: she has slept through the night for the past two nights! She actually slept so hard the other night that she woke up with a stiff neck and couldn't move it until I massaged it. She had a really yucky diaper yesterday, which indicates digestive upset, so we are hopeful that its passing. We'll see, but our fingers are crossed!