Erik, "Uno Champion"

In mid-December last year, we were searching for something new to do in the evenings with the kids. Shaun, in a stroke of genius, broke out the Uno game--which hadn't seen the light of day since we received it as a wedding present about 9 years ago. He taught the kids to play. Ben enjoyed it, but it has become Erik's passion. He is 3 1/2 years old, and the Uno box says it is for ages 7 and up. Whatever. Erik is a pro. The number and color matching are easy, but his ultimate joy are what he calls Specials -- Skip, Reverse, Draw Two, Wild, and his favorite, Draw Four.

The next day after the boys learned to play, Erik and I played two-player games while Ben was at school. He won 5 times in a row! When we deal the cards, he loves to announce what his specials are. He'll say "I have two specials!" or "Watch out when you play red for my red specials!" in a sing-songy, yet ominous sort of way and always with bright eyes and a wide smile. Then his cheerful commentary continues throughout the game. "I skipped you!" "I draw-twoed you!" If a matching card is played, like a yellow 7 on a green 7, he'll say "You got a Super Match!" If the exact same card is played (a red 4 on a red 4) he'll say "You got a Super-DUPER Match!" When he gets down to three cards he says "Tres!" Two cards... "Dos!" And then finally, of course, "Uno!"

He does win a lot, but he is also a remarkably good sport in the rare times someone else wins. He seems to enjoy being on the receiving end of draw-twos almost as much as he likes giving them ("Maybe I'll get more specials" he says as he draws the cards). Since we play a lot of games just the two of us during the day, he sees Draw Fours not as a major setback, but more as an opportunity to get "unstuck" when neither of us have a playable card and we have to keep drawing from the pile.

Its now been over two months since Uno was introduced to Erik's life, and he is still just as in love with it as ever. He still also wins about 80% of the time. In fact, yesterday he beat me three times in a row, and the next game he actually lost on purpose, just so I could win one. He was down to two cards, one a wild, which he played. Then, instead of choosing the color card he had left in his hand (blue) he chose yellow.

I said "Why don't you want blue?"

"So that YOU can win, Mommy!"

I still had at least 5 cards in my hand and the game went on for about 7 more minutes, until yes, I finally won one.