Competitiveness starts early.

I love winning. I mean I love it. I like when my favorite sports teams win. I like winning bets. I especially like winning board games. Just ask my husband. I am a monster to play board games with. I don't know what's worse, when I'm winning or when I'm losing. It is so bad, that when we were in college, Shane refused to play board games with me, unless we were on the same team. It gets pretty brutal.

I thought I had started to chill out a little when I had kids, because I don't want my children to learn my incredibly poor sportsmanship. Now I am starting to think my competitiveness was passed down genetically to my poor kiddos. I have witnessed, on more than one occasion, my competitive nature being mirrored in Jude, Gideon and even little Abby. It is a little terrifying to see.

As of right now, Giddy and Abby are mostly just in competition with one another. If Gideon is making Daddy laugh, then Abby will start yelling "Dadda! Dadda!" and cruise back and forth along the couch. If Abby is getting cuddles from Daddy or Mommy, then Gideon will do anything to make sure he is being seen by the preoccupied parent. I think of it has to do with Giddy and Abby's fight for "baby status"

mini flag football

Jude on the other hand, will find a way to compete with anyone. This was Jude's first year in any kind of organized sport... well, as organized as a sport can be with three and four year olds. He played mirco soccer/ mini flag football. Basically, a whole bunch of three and four year olds kicked soccer balls and learned how to throw and catch a football. Jude had little to no interest in playing (he preferred to use the cones as megaphones and take water breaks), but he showed some great potential when he would actually participate. I asked Jude after his five week "season" had ended, why he didn't seem to like football or soccer that much, and he told me he didn't get to play real football. I asked him what real football looked like, and he showed me. I threw him the football, and he ran the route he learned from his coaches. Then he

micro soccer

proceeded to block for himself by slamming into me both and Gideon. He than ran to the end of our yard and yelled "football touchdown!" He wanted to play the incredibly physically challenging game he had learned from watching football with Shane and me every weekend. He didn't understand that it is important to learn the rules first.

Jude also likes to know that he is the best at whatever he is doing, and he thinks quite highly of himself. Last week, we got stuck in a bit of rain on a walk to my parent's house. I told the kids we would need to walk quickly, so we wouldn't get soaked. Jude said he would run to Grandma's. We were only two blocks away, and he can tell you how to get from our house to Poppa and Grandma's house. I said that was a good idea, and that I would have Gideon ride in the stroller with Abby, and I would just run with him. He stopped dead in his tracks and informed me "You can't run with me! I'm too fast!" I had to run three or four steps behind him, because heaven forbid someone could keep up with him!

Hopefully this competitive attitude in my three kids is just a phase, but I highly doubt it.

Chyan