09:46 p.m. | 2005-11-27 Thanksgiving Leftovers. The memories linger. For that, I�m grateful. I�ve always known that LittleNephew is quite diplomatic. He acted in a Thanksgiving play that was held at his school. He was an owl. (I�m not sure how owls figure into Thanksgiving but, yay!) After the play, when all the kids were lined up on the stage, their teacher asked them what they were thankful for. Here�s that. (Otherkid:) I�m thankful for my dog. (Otherkid:) I�m thankful for, um, my dog� and my bike. (LN:) I�m thankful everyday for my parents. But, today I�m thankful for my teachers. Yes, he is a nerdy teacher�s pet and I couldn�t be more proud of that fact. He does have a dark side though, lest you think differently. It�s in the genes he received from YoungerSister. Albeit, she�d argue that point. She�d lose too, but don�t tell her that. LN�s darker side? Yeah. That comes out whenever we play games together. This year, we played Toot and Otto, and marbles (of all things). I remember marbles from my childhood. I had a collection of course. Didn�t know how to play though. Never learned. Jacks was my game and I was quite skilled. While jacks and marbles were often played side-by-side, I never paid attention to the marble games. Nonetheless, I collected marbles. My marbles were actually more prized than my jacks. Took better care of them too. Mostly because marbles are made of glass and I love things made of glass. It�s a weakness of mine. Initially, I turned down LittleNephew�s request to play marbles because there�s a rule that marbles have to be played in the garage because BabyNephew is quite mobile and little round balls of glass are a choking hazard to one so young. I declined because the garage floor is cement and is cold. I�m not so young anymore and well, just NO. Surprisingly, LN�s father (my BIL) made an exception and told us we could play marbles in the livingroom as long as BN was �confined� (in a highchair or playpen or something not like a closet or in some other non-child-abuse type of way � don�t want to give the wrong impression) and we counted all the marbles before and after the game to make sure none were left on the floor. Well, I couldn�t decline to play after all that. So we played marbles. That�s when I found out that I really, really like that game. At the end of the first round, I also learned this: (LN:) We have to count our marbles now to see who won. (CI:) Okay. (LN:) I�m gonna count mine in Spanish. (CI:) Okay. Uh, I�m gonna count mine in English. (LN:) Okay. Yeah, so he counted to 21 in Spanish; I counted to 16 in English. I wanted to pull out some other language but the only other way I know how to count that high is sign language and he knows that too. Since I was laid out on the floor, it was easier to count verbally. I must say, his Spanish is impressive and impeccable. His skill at marbles is quite good too. Oh, of course, I gave him extra shots and whatnot � he is his mother�s child and hates losing � but even so, he�s good. I really like playing marbles. All told? It was a good Thanksgiving. your thoughts? seed flower