(no subject)

[the_rck]

Tomorrow, we'll spend most of the day at Scott's sister's place to celebrate two birthdays, Scott's and our nephew's. We're celebrating kind of early this year. Usually it wouldn't be until next weekend, closer to our nephew's birthday, but Scott's parents are leaving for Florida next week and will be gone for several weeks.

I'm doing part of the laundry today because there won't be time tomorrow. I can do three of the four required loads today. I'll do the fourth early tomorrow, as soon as Scott's done showering.

Scott's going to be bringing a few games, most notably Sentinels of the Multiverse (which we know I can play) and Forbidden Island (which we hope I can play). (Table Top featured a third cooperative game that we want to try, Fortune and Glory, but it's over $100 on Amazon, so that may never happen.) Cordelia won't play any of these games. She's too afraid of making mistakes. We haven't been able to get her to try a new game in a couple of years. I wish I knew how to help her with that.

Cordelia's been invited to spend the night tonight with her cousin. She was crying about it last night. She's terrified of doing it. She was saying, before the invitation came, that she thought she could, but when actually faced with it, she melts down. She wants me to go with her which, well, we know she can do. It wouldn't get her any closer to going on her own. I would like to see her do this. I think she's ready (though it's not what I think that matters).

This may well be her last opportunity before fifth grade camp in May. Scott's sister has said that there are no dates during March and April that will work, and Scott's parents will be out of town for quite a while (Cordelia's also convinced that spending the night with her grandparents would be boring. I'm not sure how to get around that one). There is the possibility of a slumber party to celebrate a friend's birthday, but I don't know if that's going to happen.

Maybe I just need to resign myself to going to camp with Cordelia. I can survive two nights of not sleeping well, and I can find transportation there and back somehow. I just wish this were easier to get a handle on.

Comments

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

you've probably already thought of and tried this, but on the off chance maybe you haven't....have you ever thought of getting cordelia to play a game against herself? that way, she both wins and loses...Like say...scrabble. She could move back and forth from side of the board to the other and play against herself, get accustomed to the game so she's not trying to learn it and win it the very first time. She could do the same thing with backgammon or play a round of hearts (card game, you can find that on your computer) and maybe it would be a bit less stressful for her? I had no one to play with growing up and my mom had other things to do, so I often sat down and played games vs myself....I quickly got over the "i have to win" mindset, when I played with other people it was just "oh wow, there is someone else to play against!" was the important factor, I didn't have to do it all, and it was kind of nice to not "win" every game.

I'm not sure sometimes when I respond to some of these things if I should or not....I'm trying to be helpful but I know sometimes people just want to write down what's going on, they don't necessarily want to hear feedback or ideas...indeed, they've often thought of something similar before. Please let me know if I'm getting on your nerves, I don't want to do that, I'm just wanting to try and help.

[the_rck]

Cordelia does play games against herself, but it's only certain games that she knows well. She'll set up her stuffed animals to play Monopoly or a couple of card games she learned from her cousin, but we can't get her to try something new.

I don't mind suggested solutions. I may not always reply to them-- Often I'm not sure what to say. I need to think for a while about suggested solutions. They generally don't fit the circumstances right away, but they can offer me a seed of an idea.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Cool...I don't really expect replies, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't being a pest either, if I can give you a jumping point for an idea, wonderful!

I'm both a "jump in and try it" but also a "don't want to mess it up" kind of person. If what I'm doing isn't going to mess up someone elses game, I'll give it a shot but if it's something like playing a video game cooperatively where my screw up with get the other player "killed" I'm hesitant because I am completely lost with the complex game controllers these days! Learning curves can be so frustrating...but you'll never get around that curve without trying it somehow....hope you guys are staying warm and dry...we've got flooding and freezing here now....at least it's not SNOW anymore!

[the_rck]

A big part of why I don't reply in these cases is that my immediate response to all advice is "No, that won't work." It could be the most sensible and applicable suggestion in the world, but I'll always automatically want to say no. I'm aware of that and trying to work around it, so I put off responding.

We've got ice all over the place here. We had just enough of a thaw to get water everywhere, and then it froze again. The floor of our garage is slick because the melt runs right in from the driveway. Getting in and out of the driveway is exciting because it's not just slippery-- The packed snow is unstable and gives under the tires.