You Sank My Battleship!

Wow. I did not mean to leave off posting for this long - again. Seems like when life gets busy, this little internet spot of mine suffers.

Due to worsening health conditions of my MIL, the mister has been spending most of his evenings at his parents' house, only coming home from work to eat quickly (if at all) and then run over there, and hopefully he'll return home in time to crawl in bed just to lather-rinse-repeat the next day, ad nauseum.

This has meant that it's been up to me to occupy SB's time - which would be vastly easier if I were one of those "meh, do whatever you want" parents. But I greatly prefer that he not live in front of the TV playing Wii, Playstation or nose-to-the-screen of his DSi, or just watching the mindless drivel that is on Disney channel or other stations. (Or at least, not ALL of the time! I am not perfect, not by a long shot!) Fortunately, SB likes to read; he just prefers TV and games over books. But if I can guide him away from the tube, he'll read, or I can get him to help me with household chores - in small doses. He does like to know what's in it for him - so it's often a matter of tit for tat - you do this, and I'll do that.

In one of our flurries of housecleaning, we straightened out the area of the family room behind the couch and sandwiched in by the kitchen half-wall. It's where almost all toys, games, puzzles, etc. are located. We re-found his Battleship game, and he's been pestering almost everyone to play with him. I finally caved this weekend - I'm the parent more often home with him, of course. Let me say, this is a trifle unusual for me - I am not usually a game player, preferring my books for entertainment. Unless you want to play Apples to Apples, then you're on!

We set up in the dining room, at opposite ends of the table. Laid out all our pins, plotted the best placement of our ships, etc. Even brought out the penny crayon so we could utilize pennies to mark spots where our opponent "missed" shots. Let the battle begin!

First game, I laid out my ships in a pattern I though would confuse SB. Was I ever right - but that was the last game I won. He showed me mercy in the next 3-4 games, letting me keep my last shot for many rounds while he called obviously empty locations, so I could, just maybe, locate the ships of his that I had been unable to find so far. I'm not sure if he was being chivalrous to his mom, or just prolonging my agony, but it's been fun playing with him. And yes, I'm actually looking forward to the next game(s).

I'll be certain to vocalize that commercialized cry - "You sank my battleship!" at the appropriate time.