Hide and Seek

I wrote the other day about how my baby climbs onto everything, and that even the table’s not safe. Now, she’s started playing a new game—hide and seek. And she has the definite advantage. She’s small, quiet, and quick. But so far, we’re tied.

This is how she plays hide and seek. I’ll be doing something—like washing dishes—and she’ll wander off somewhere. Now, my house is fairly baby proof, so I’m usually not too concerned.  After a while, I usually send one of my older kids to find her. When she goes off, I make sure I know what room she’s heading to, so I can be sure to send my older children in the right direction.

At first, she would just go into the other room and do something on her own. A little independent play is good for everyone, right? I was really good at this type of hide and seek. Surprisingly, I could find her fairly easily. Lately, though, she’s added a new level of difficulty to this game.

Now, instead of just playing independently, she’s started climbing into things.

The first place she’s started hiding in is her toy box. I like it when she hides in her toy box. She’s easy to find and she usually gets distracted playing with her toys. I’ve never actually seen her climb into her toy box, so I’m not quite sure how she does it without tipping it or spilling toys. She’s as good as Houdini, that baby of mine.

The next place she’s started hiding is in the girls’ room. She likes to quietly slip upstairs (we keep the bathroom door closed at all times now) and into her room. There she likes to put herself “to bed” by crawling into my preschooler’s doll bed. I’ve watched her do this, and she’s really very coordinated.  Maybe she’ll be a contortionist when she grows up.

The baby’s also taken a fancy to hiding in the clean clothes bins we have. I like it when she’s hiding here because she’s really easy to find. I don’t like it when she’s hiding here because she usually pulls out all the nicely folded laundry to get in. Oh, well, at least she’s not hiding in the dirty laundry basket.

Finally, she’s started getting into the dryer. If I happen to get called away from changing the laundry around and leave the dryer door open, she’ll make a bee line for the dryer. I’ll come back from whatever kid emergency called me away to find the baby sitting happily in the dryer. I almost think she’s laughing at me –or maybe with me. Obviously, I don’t let her stay in the dryer after I’ve finished filling it. And I always check for the baby before I start it. Something I never thought would be a problem!

So far, our game of hide and seek hasn’t resulted in any bodily damage, or damage to the home or furniture. And, I count myself lucky she hasn’t started emptying things out of the kitchen cupboards to hide there. I’m sure this is just a phase in her young life. At least, I think I’m sure.

She’ll grow out of it, right? What mischievous or playful activities have your children engaged in or grown out of? I’d love to hear about them, please share your stories in the comments below.