Thanks for playing

Coming home this afternoon to watch my grandson and find him crying his eyes out was not on my list of things to do.  Actually, I specifically came home hoping to spend some time with him and cheer myself up a bit.  Not that I had a reason to be cheered up, but I have been tired and dealing with a little bit of seasonal depression so I thought Gideon and his happy 5 year old personality could give me a boost.  As I started washing dishes my daughter told me why he was in trouble and therefore without video games or iPad for a day or two.  Some parents like to weigh in on how their children are raising the grand children.  It is very rare that I feel the need to be one of those parents.  Today was not quite one of those times.  My daughter and son-in-law are awesome parents and this seemed a punishment that fit the misdemeanor.  My only comment was that maybe he needed less screen time in general for a while if losing it was this bad.  Before she left my daughter set the timer for 5 minutes.  Gideon had 5 more minutes that he could be sad about losing this privilege, if that wasn't enough, he could get 5 more, and so on.  When he was done being upset he could go play.  I suggested when his 5 minutes were up he come help me in the kitchen.

My daughter left and he was in the kitchen doing fine.  I had him clean off some tables in the living room and get a few things for me but he mostly had just snapped out of it.  When the dishes were done and dinner at the point of simmering he and I pulled out a board game that he got for Christmas.  I may have mentioned Catan Junior last year when I got it for him.  The older person version is one of my favorite games.  It took a while to get the pieces out and the directions read but it was worth it.  My daughter came home just in time to play with us.  He was happy and bouncy and we all had a good time playing.  At one point, in his enthusiasm, he gesticulated wildly enough to smack me in the nose.  It hurt, but not enough to bruise or cause real damage.  All I could do was laugh about it.  These are the things in life that matter.  Making game playing memories is my happy for today.

That is my sad turned happy story of today.  If however, a cry is what is wanted, check out this link. 

Happy Wednesday!

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