Cards!

A small pack of playing cards came home with Maya back around Valentine's day, as one of the token gifts in the kids' goodie bag exchange at school. I threw away most of the other small nothings since those just tend to create lots and lots more clutter than we already have; but I ended up opening up the tiny deck just to see what these were - pairs of cute drawings to match and keep. Maya and I tried them out, and she turned out to be exceptionally good at this simple memory game.

Encouraged by her enthusiasm, I picked up Kids' Sequence game at Target a couple of weeks later. She was psyched, and we played every night before her obligatory Curious George. I've always thought I would enjoy what many families call 'family game night,' but until now, thought Maya to be too little to enjoy games with rules and instructions - clearly, I just never stopped to realize how many are tailored specifically to toddlers her age.

A couple of days ago I picked up a colorful deck of Go Fish, or, in this iteration, Go Julius, based on Paul Frank's character and its cronies. While the cards are almost too big for her little hands, Maya's on her second night of Go Julius, and with Dad's help, can hold her own well.

I'm thinking I'll get dominoes or something along the lines of Chutes and Latters or Candy Land, next... On to Monopoly domination, soon enough!