play the game

i have taken the advice of a fellow bloggermom and instituted "the game" here in our house. we've been playing it off and on for the past few months. an example of us playing the game would be as follows...
"henry, go get your shoes out of the backyard."
"but mom, my shoes aren't in the backyard."
"play the game, henry."
"okay mom"
well, friday my neighbor and i took our kids out for some mexican. half way through the meal mary jane asked to go to the bathroom. i asked samantha to take her. back from the bathroom, samantha informed me that mary jane didn't go. five minutes later ...
"mommy, i got to go potty."
"but you just went to the bathroom with samantha five minutes ago and you didn't go," i say, trying to reason with a 2 year old.
"mommy, play the game."
i had to ask samantha if she heard mary jane say what i thought she said.
then mary jane said it again. "can we play the game mommy?"
i took her to the bathroom this time, and sure enough, she had to go.