While watching the grandkids yesterday while Connie and Ben were at the temple, I was playing "Battleship" with Jared. Being very intelligent like all my decendants, I began to explain to him the strategies of playing the game. I showed him the ABC's and the 123's along the tops and left side and how at each turn we would say one letter and one number. Jared could do one or the other but eventually caught on and would call out "CD" or "AB" on his turn. When it was his turn he would put a peg or two into the board. The color was determined by my telling him he had a hit or a miss. On hits he used a red marker and on misses he used a white marker just as I had taught him. On my turn I would correctly model how to call out a location of my battleship by saying "J10" or "F7". We were having a great time playing, but not really playing, the game. Jared kept shouting out, "I'm winning aren't I Grandma?" I would tell him that indeed he was winning and was very good at playing. You can see from the picture how Jared's gameboard looked. On my turn, Kate who was sitting on my lap would put a peg in the board and then clap excitedly...as if to say, "I got one in and now let's all applaud appropriately because I am very smart just like all of Grandma Merrell's descendants."
Inevitably the fun abruptly ended when it was my turn and I called out, "I1". Jared's face crumbled and he said, "YOU won? I thought I was winning Grandma?" Wanting to burst out laughing, I instead held it in and recovered by saying, "Oh that's right Jared. You are winning. Grandma meant to say, "D4"...and the game continued on with everyone satisfied. Aren't kids great? You always win with Grandma!
