Kace, Quce, Jace, and Twouce

DO YOU HAVE A QUCE?

Putting my competitive side aside, I've entered into card games with Dec the past two nights.

Our favorites are W.A.R., Go Fish!, and Dirty Old Joker (Dame's version of Old Maid).

Playing cards with a four year old is an exercise in patience:

• He can't quite hold the cards in his hands, so we often have to set up the largest book we can find as a shield, so that he can spread his cards out on the carpet behind it.
• Then we realize the book is a major obstacle for him, especially when he has to reach the Go Fish! pile.
• If he does chose to fan the cards in his hands, he often drops 90% of them when trying to discard one.
• He has to ask repeatedly if the six is "down or up". And to be extra thorough, he asks the same thing every time he sees a nine.

But the real reason I play cards with Dec is not to exercise my patience. Trust me, I do that enough. Rather, it is to hear him talk.

"Mom, do you have a Quce?" (pronounced "cuse" as in Syracuse)

I look at my cards and, realize (panic really) that I don't know what a Quce is. After seeing a two, a queen, and an ace in my hand, I hear myself saying, "Yes". Certain that one of those cards must be a Quce and somewhat relieved that I could answer him, I look up and see his glad eyes staring at me. With his hand out.

Uh Oh. Now I have to hand him one.

I picked the Queen. And I was right!

After one round of Go Fish! it is clear that Dec has names for most of the cards. He makes as many cards as possible rhyme with the word "ACE", the grandaddy of cards in most of the games we play. He's brilliant actually. It's as if he knows that all the other cards really want to be as powerful as the ace. You say King, I say Kace.

Hey, do you have a Jace?