The little 'uns

I'd like to share with you a fun game I played this week with my niece (3 years old) and nephew (1 year old).

At the house, there's this Nerf six-shooter gun that fires little Nerf darts with suction cups on the end. It's remarkably accurate and fun to blast people with. I have one at my place and I've been using Nena (and our doorbell ringer) as practice since December.

Here's how the game proceeds. The little guy loves chasing darts when you shoot them. He may or may not think that he is a dog. So he'll run over to where you are and suggest in his non-speaking manner that maybe you should shoot one across the room so he can stagger over full-speed and retrieve it. So that's what I do.

When he gets to his goal, I typically shoot another dart at him. Hey, Uncle Bub has to have some fun too, right?

This is where the young lady becomes involved. She informs me in a stern voice that "we're not supposed to shoot brother." At this point, I blast her with a dart. You don't tell Uncle Bub what to do with his Nerf gun.

Meanwhile, the wee fellow has responded to the shot in his charmingly delayed fashion, picked up the second projectile, and started ambling back over my way with both of them. The girl, despite her opposition to my wanton shooting, also brings back the foam missile with which I've shot her.

Fully re-armed and with an eager nephew, I prepar the Nerf gun and we rinse, lather, repeat. Good times!