Stacking the deck

Patrick has discovered the card game Uno. He begs all the grandparents to play it with him overandoverandoverandoverandover. And they do, because they are patient and wonderful. And then there is Mean Old Mom - I play it three times in a row, tops, because, well, I've got laundry to do and a baby to entertain and lunch to make.

Today, in between Games 2 and 3, I asked Patrick to gather up all the scattered cards and put them in a pile for me to shuffle. He whined and said that he couldn't. That he didn't know how. That it was too hard. But after a little encouragement (and a threat that I wouldn't play the last game) he tried. And he did it! Yes, his little hands had a tough time getting everything to go in the same direction, but eventually he got all 108 of those cards into a nice, neat stack. The smile on his face was beautiful, and he beat the pants off me in Game #3.

As my sweet, sensitive blonde boy grows up, I hope that I can help him be more confident and sure of himself, because, wow man, life is a lot harder than stacking Uno cards. What if you get three Draw 2s in a row? What if you forget to say "Uno!" when you are finally down to one card? What if you get Reversed and Skipped up one side and down the other? What if that son-of-a-bitch sitting across from you saved his Wild Draw 4 for his last turn and laid it down for the win? (Is that even LEGAL?) Well, I guess you gotta learn to deal with it. You gotta know that you could win the next game. You gotta know that you are smart and awesome and loved.