Do Not Pass Go...

Little guy and I battled in a monstrous game of Monopoly Here and Now last night.  It amazed me at how grown up he is ~ far beyond his age.  He declared himself all time banker and distributed our hundreds of thousands and million dollar bills (updated for the 21st century if you haven't played it) with complete ease as if counting in $100,000 bills is totally normal.  He scooped up property that cost $2,600,000 without a flinch and thought that was totally normal.  He threw up hotels without mercy on his momma and cheered himself on every time I landed on one of them.

And then.... he got greedy.  After raking in the dough on me for over and hour, I saw a switch in his facial expression.    He had over $20,000,000 in cash and all of sudden, he started to cling onto it.  He had all of the dark green properties and wouldn't build on them.  He didn't want to spend his cash.

Slowly but surely, I put one house at a time on my properties.  I owned 3 monopolies (yellow, orange and red) so one "side" of the board essentially.  Roll after roll, he started to hit them.  I started to accumulate cash, bought more houses, built hotels.  He still sat on his property and wouldn't build (he owned the right side of the board, the cheapy stuff, with hotels).  He started to go down.

I couldn't believe how gracious he was.  He didn't throw a tantrum, he didn't get upset.  He just started to mortgage, paying me everything he owed without asking for help.  On the last trip around the board, he hit three of my hotels in three rolls... the last straw.  He stood up, stuck his hand out and shook my hand.  "Good game, mom!", he said.  "We should play Life!".  Unwavering.  Undeterred.  Happy as a clam.

This must be my hubs genetics.  There is no way this child is my kid.  I would have never reacted that way in a loss (nor do I usually in my adult life!)  I'm amazed by his balance and strength and capability to maneuver through this life.

I love that I can see so much of hubs in my son.  I see his Pooh, too.  I also see his great gpa.  It's amazing how strong genes can mold and develop our children even before we start to guide them.  In celebration of our Lord's birth, take some time this weekend to also celebrate the children in your life.  They truly are miracles!!