Tucker has a new love in his life and her name is Candy Land. I was wondering when he would get interested in board games and actually following the rules. When he was two he received a fishing game as a present and it immediately dispersed around the house as fodder for random imaginative things (fish sandwiches, treasure, etc.). I tried to play it with him but the idea of the thing was completely lost on him.
Fast forward two years to Candy Land. We gave it to him for his birthday in September and it took a couple months for him to warm up to the idea of following rules, but now he is absolutely obsessed. In love. Transfixed. He still is torn whenever he receives a bad card about whether he REALLY should follow it because as he states almost every turn "I want to win." But, my secret to getting him to follow the rules is to remind him that if he goes backwards like the card says the game will be longer and we will play longer.
The one thing to be prepared for is that when he asks what piece you want to be because you can choose first: whatever piece you pick is going to be the one he wants. Related to this, my other big Mommy secret these days is when Tucker has leftovers in the fridge I want him to eat, if I offer them to him and he says "No, I don't want that." All I have to say is, "Okay, well maybe Molly wants them instead." The idea of Molly taking something that was his stuns his little brain and suddenly he does a 180 and is begging for his leftovers.
