Sunday, May 23, 2010

Hide-and-Seek with a 3-Year Old

"I'm going to play hide-and-seek with the grown-ups. Try and find me."
Emelia runs upstairs, and closes her door. Kathy and I count from 10 backwards as she requests. The giggling commences as Kathy and I walk upstairs. We announce where we're looking as we walk the upstairs rooms.
"I'll look in the front room. No, she's not here."
"I'll look in our bedroom."
The giggling continues unabated.
"She's not in the bathroom."
"She's not in the linen closet."
"She's not in our bathroom."
"She's not in the washing machine."
"There's only one more place to look -- her bedroom."
We open to door to a giggling, quivering mass under a pink blanket on her bed.
"Is she under her bed? Nope."
"I bet she's in her dirty clothes pile -- nope."
"She must be in her dress-up bin. No, darn."
"Maybe she's in her diaper bin."
"That's too stinky -- if she's in there, I'm not looking."
Giggling, giggling.
"Is she in her bed?"
Kathy rips off the blanket. "Aha!"
Laughing, laughing.
"That was fun. Let's play again. I'll be easier to find next time."