Hide and Seek

We've gone through quite a few favorite games since Owen turned into a toddler and now a young man. Peek-a-boo, where's Owen, and the game of just run screaming as loud as you can through wherever you are. He's really gotten into hide and seek lately. Not quite sure how the rules are supposed to work, but he grasps the overall concept, and if you can fall over giggling at the end, what the hey?

Obviously, you have to have a hider and a finder. Usually, Owen is the finder and one or both of us is the hider. He closes his eyes tight and puts his hands up to his face, counting to 5. Upon counting to 5, the fifth number being reached, he announces "Ready or not, here I come," as every good finder should. Inside the house, we hide behind the bathroom door, a floor length curtain, behind the couch, or in the alcove by the pantry. Occasionally, you can slip into the office or on to the basement steps. He wanders around the house looking for you, but he really just wants to be surprised. Therefore, the best hiding spots are the ones where you can be passed over, then jump out and yell "BOOOOOO!" right behind him. He'll jump, pee a little, and be reduced to fits of laughter as he tackles you.

If you find a REALLY good hiding spot, he'll give up and go play with his toys so you have to be somewhat selective. We were playing in the backyard once and he counted. Daddy hid behind one of the many large poplar trees back there and Owen never came looking for me in that area. He spent a good 2 minutes looking for me in the wrong places as I peeked out from behind the tree. He finally gave up, and spent another 5 minutes wandering around in the backyard, picking up sticks, looking at bugs, and other random toddler activities. Finally, I decided to sneak up on him and waited for his back to be turned. I crept up behind him and got to about 10 feet away when he happened to turn around so I rushed him and threw him skyward while making some sort of monster noise I came up with.

It scared the crap out of him, he'd obviously completely forgotten I was out there with him. But it took about 1.3 seconds to register it was his Daddy and I don't think he could breathe he was laughing so hard. After settling down, he said, "You hide again!"

On the rare occasion when he wants to be the hider, this is where we have failures in the hide and seek dynamic. His idea of hiding is getting in a corner, or putting his hands on the fridge, in plain sight. When you get to 5 and announce ready or not, you can't find him until he's ready to be found. Walk right past him, loudly wondering where he is. If you see him, he'll scream, "NO! I'm HIIIIIIIIDING!!!!!" When he's ready to be found, he will come running out at you yelling, "BOOOO!!!!!" so you have to act properly scared and often get tackled. Maybe Daddy has too much fun with hide and seek by teaching the scare/tackle version.

He's finally starting to grasp better hiding technique and is usually found peeking out from behind a tree, a curtain, or behind the couch. One of these days, I'll have to get him to hide really well. Then I can give up and maybe have some peace and quiet. Except I'd probably forget and he'd scare me to the point of peeing myself and giggling.

CK