Last night, after the babies went to bed, Adam and I played Settlers of Catan with our older two. As always there was laughter, yelling, and more than a few tears. This is just how board games go at our house; Allisan talks a big game for an 11 year old but when you start dishing it back to her, out come the waterworks. Good luck stopping them once they start too:
"Allie chill out, we're just having fun."
"I can't help it!! (sob sob sob) I don't like when dad/Riley/you make fun of mehehehe!!"
"Oh my God. We aren't making fun of you; we're teasing you the same way you were teasing us when you were winning. Calm down, stop crying."
"I'm trying!! It doesn't help when you keep talking about it!!"
So then you just have to ignore her because if anyone even tries to speak to her during the calming down phase we have to start all over.
Look, I can totally relate- I'm a cryer too; I cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm mad, I cry when I'm happy, I cry when some college student wins a car on The Price is Right and when the Star Spangled Banner is sung before a sporting event. I hate it. So, I feel for her, I really do, but look:
Teasing is an important part of the family dynamic, especially in a large family. I'm the oldest of five and any of my siblings will tell you that picking on each other was an important part of growing up. I'm not talking about big T Trauma here, just a sprinkling of verbal jabs.
With a kid count of four we qualify as a large family now and it's every man, woman, and child for themselves.
During one of the more fun moments of our game I caught myself thinking about what it'll be like when the babies are old enough to play the games we enjoy- and then I realized by the time they're old enough to play Settlers and Smallworld and Ticket to Ride and Pandemic, Riley will be in his...twenties!...excuse me while I pass out.
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