Brainy Bird was about four years old when I realized that I understood his pattern of thoughts. I then began feeding his appetite for knowledge because I knew exactly how to prepare the information.
I have yet to identify the pattern with Little Chirp. We play games every night that we are together. When we can not be gathered around the table to play one of our favorite games, we make up games at the grocery store and in the car. I have noticed that there are certain games that Little Chirp has grasped inside and out. Then there are things that we tell him again and again, and he just does not seem to grasp it. Little Chirp’s strategic mind is interesting at this point because it is not limited by the reality of what is reasonably possible.
A great example, a few nights ago, we were playing Sorry Sliders. Imagine a board game that is like shuffle board, if you have never played Sorry Sliders. The pieces have little marbles in the bottom of them. You slide them across the board attempting to land on the point values that you need to move your pawns home. Brainy Bird had just one piece left that needed a four to win. He easily slid his piece to the four on the board. Little Chirp needed to get a two with one of his pieces and an automatic home with the other. His first piece had landed on a three, which did not help him at all.
This did not stop Little Chirp from saying, “I am in winning position!”
“No, that would be me. You need a two and automatic home, oh and you need to knock me off the four to win. You only have one piece left. It can’t do all those things at one time!”
Little Chirp got his game face on in the form a of a crunched forehead. He slid his piece fiercely onto the board, smacked into Brainy Bird’s piece knocking it off the four and into his own existing piece knocking it off the three on to the two, and the moving piece fell in the automatic home circle.
“I told you I was in winning position!!” Little Chirp yelped at his big brother. Brainy Bird was too impressed by the awesome play to be mad that he lost to his little brother.