Pass the Almonds

My cousin was up visiting not too long ago and she and I had a sleep-over at my place where we managed to stay up till 10:30! We rock.

Before we went to my place, I was at her parent's place (my aunt and uncle) for a visit with her kids and dinner. My cousin's oldest is 12 and has legs up to my eyeballs. She's almost taller than me. Which isn't hard, really, but she's 12. 12! Her little guy is 9 and funny as hell. Typical 9-year old boy.

While we were sitting around eating dinner, I noticed that my cousin's daughter had on what looked like bathing suit straps under her shirt. So I said "Hey! Did you go swimming today? It looks like you have a swim suit on". Her brother looked at me like I was an idiot and said:

"It's her BRA."

Oh. Oops.

Luckily that little girl is a sweet thing and rolled with it, while I continued to eat my foot.

After dinner, we played a game called Pass the Ace, an easy-peasy card game for kids with just enough 'oomph' to make it competitive. I thought this would be a great game to teach my 5-year old niece, who has turned out to be...how do I say this...WILDLY COMPETITIVE. I'm not sure I am stressing how COMPETITIVE she is.  The last time I played Chutes and Ladders with her, she told me I was cheating, walked away and started watching TV when she realized I was winning.

My aunt said that Pass the Ace would be great to teach my niece the art of sportsmanship, you know, because she is so COMPETITIVE. Have I mentioned she hates losing, this kid?

So. The next time I see her, we all sit down and play Pass the Ace. And I tell her parents about how this will help teach her it's ok to lose.

And then the little so-and-so wins the entire game. Twice. 

I think she really liked the game, because the next morning, my niece and I were snuggling in bed (she came and slept with me halfway through the night), when she looked up at me and whispered:

"Auntie? Can we play Pass the Almonds again?"