Playing Hide-n-Seek
My boys, (especially Calfgrit6), love playing hide-n-seek with me in the house. They almost never ask their mom, and they never play by themselves; it’s always best with daddy. And I love playing it with them. I rock at hide-n-seek!
They prefer to be the seekers because they like trying to find me, and they don’t have the patience, themselves, to stay hidden in one place very long. When we first started playing, they’d search for me a long time, but almost inevitably, I’d have to give myself up when they were stumped. But every time I did that, I lost that spot as a viable hiding place – they’d make sure to check that spot in subsequent games. So then, instead of letting them find me when they gave up looking around, I’d just sneak out of my spot and “appear” out in the open somewhere. This let me keep my good hiding places a secret.
Sometimes I’d sneak out of a room they hadn’t checked yet and sneak into an area they’d already searched. This could keep the game going for many minutes until they grew too frustrated. A few times of this, and they got mad about it. It’s now a standard rule that I can’t do that anymore. *sigh*
Sometimes they have to get their mom into the seeking, and that’s when I get really serious about the game. Outsmarting a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old is one thing, but outsmarting an adult, well, that’s when my competitive streak shows itself. Sometimes she plays along just to help them, giving ideas, dropping hints, and such, but then there are times when she really gets into it and has to start calculating, “Where can a grown man hide in this house? Would he actually break his own limbs to fit inside that furniture?” (I might.)
The most fun moments in a game of hide-n-seek is when the boys are near me, and search all around me, (or even directly at my spot), but they fail to find me. I have to hold back the laughter when they move on to the next area or room.
One time I was hiding in Calfgrit9’s bed – it was an unmade mess of a blanket, a couple pillows, and several stuffed animals – both boys searched the bed pretty thoroughly, twice, but they failed to notice me. I was wedged down in the corner of where the bed is up against the wall, so the lump I made in the mess was relatively small. They searched that spot once early, and then again later at their mother’s suggestion, even pulling one of the pillows and a couple stuffed animals off of me, but they still didn’t find me. I scared the bejeebers out of them when I rose up with a roar while they were leaving the room. It’s now a standard rule that I can’t do that anymore. *sigh*
Then another time, I hid pretty much in plain sight: I stood up on the sink counter in their bathroom, just to the right side of the door. I had a white towel in my hands, held to cover my lower half — the part at their eye level — (towel was white, walls were white), and just stood very still. If they had done more than a cursory look in the bathroom, (in the tub behind the shower curtain), or if they had looked high, they would have spotted me, surely. But neither boy found me when they looked at separate times. Then they got Mom in on the search, and she found me after several minutes when she gave the bathroom a more thorough look, (after first looking in the tub, herself).
I must admit, too, that one reason why I like hide-n-seek in the house is that sometimes I can find a nice comfortable spot, (like in the bed), where I can just rest for a few minutes. After being ridden like a horse, chasing the boys around the yard, or playing soccer or Nerf gun tag in the cul de sac, it’s nice to be able to lay quietly under some warm blankets and pillows.
One of these games, I’m probably going to fall asleep where I hide, and put the family into a panic when they can’t find me and I don’t reveal myself. I can just imagine my wife trying to explain the situation to the police when they answer the distress call. “Yes, please officers, help us seek and find my husband. We’ve lost him somewhere in the house.”
“OK ma’am. I’ll call in the K-9 unit.”
Bullgrit
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