Pretty coordinated, La Texican! I bet it was super-cute. Kerry, it's nice to hear about a little one with such a genuinely big heart.

My son, while looking for something to do on the potty recently without a book or toy handy, invented a game he calls "Patterns, Patterns, Everywhere!" The way it goes is this:

1. Any number of people can play.

2. Each round, one person starts by saying a pattern, and everyone else has to replicate the pattern (more below on that). Then the next person gets to start a round with their own pattern, which everyone else has to replicate.

3. After everyone has started a round with a pattern containing items of the current number of categories, the original starter starts a round with a pattern including one new category as well as all the old ones, announcing the name of the added category ("farm animals", "vehicles", "states of mind", whatever).

4. The first round always uses the category "colors".

5. The starter's pattern must contain at least one item of every category. Categories may be interspersed throughout the pattern in any way, and can appear multiple times. The pattern may be as long as the starter wishes, but the starter has to say it four times. If the starter messes up saying his own pattern, he's out of the game.

6. Each other surviving player then replicates the pattern, by replacing each item from the starter's pattern with a different item of the same category (items from the starter's pattern may appear, but not in the same position). The replicated pattern cannot have two of the same item in positions where the original pattern has two different items (i.e. "red blue" cannot be replicated as "yellow yellow"). The replicating player must say the replicated pattern four times. Any screw-ups, and that player's out of the game.

7. Each replicating player must come up with her own completely new pattern (this is where it can fall apart with enough players, as it's hard to keep track, but it's mostly a good-faith requirement).

8. The last surviving player wins.

Ex. #1, using just "colors" and 3 players:
Player 1: blue red green green blue (4 times over)
Player 2: yellow mauve black black yellow (4 times over)
Player 3: red blue yellow yellow red (4 times over)

Ex. #2, using "colors", "shapes" and "safari animals", with 3 players:
Player 1: blue rhino rhino triangle wildebeeste black
Player 2: red elephant elephant square lion green
Player 3: yellow giraffe giraffe circle alligator red

The fewer the players, the faster you get to have lots and lots of categories. Leave one out, and you're kaput! The thing I love the most about this game is the name, and the way he says it. He sounds like he's announcing a new product on a TV commercial or something. laugh He's an endless source of fun. I wish sometimes that I could have grown up with him as a brother.


Striving to increase my rate of flow, and fight forum gloopiness. sick