Mazzy and I play 'hide and seek' quite a bit. It works when I hide and she finds me but when we flip roles, the whole thing goes to shit.
I'll tell her to hide, she'll run off (presumably to hide) and then I count to ten. As soon as I shout, "Ready or not, here I come!" Mazzy starts squealing, runs right out of whatever "hiding space" she was in and screams, "HERE I AM!" as she greets me in the hallway.
EVERY. GODDAMN. TIME.
I tell her to stay hidden until I find her but that doesn't seem to be a concept she is able to grasp. I've tried not yelling, "Here I come!" but that doesn't seem to stop her from revealing herself either.
When I hide, on the other hand, it is a lot of fun. There aren't a lot of places a grown woman can go in a NYC apartment— it's pretty much my closet, the shower or if I'm feeling really inspired, crouched behind the glider chair in her room.
Mazzy always finds me easily, squealing with a delight that I can only pretend to understand and never seems to get tired of the game.
On a scale of "shape sorting cube" to "bouncy castle", "hide and seek" is pretty close to the latter.
Over the weekend, a tech-savvy dad posted a video of his two-year-old daughter playing hide and seek while wearing a head-cam.
The result is quite possibly the closest I've ever come to understanding what goes on in my toddler's head.
It is truly fascinating to watch. Oddly suspenseful, joyous and sad all at once.
For the parents reading (which is probably everyone except my sister), I feel I must tell you that the little girl takes a spill in the bathroom at one point.
You know you're a parent, when your first reaction to a fall heard and not seen, is that the poor child just got strangled and suffocated by the shower curtain.
Longest .05 seconds of my life.
Relax. She's fine. Enjoy.
That is brilliant!! I love that the first place she checks is always the last place he hid. That is what my son does EVERY TIME!! I don’t think he’ll ever work out the game where you hide something in your hands and they have to guess which hand it’s in.
We love hide and seek! My baby does the same as Mazzy – though with an older sister to mimic she has gotten remarkably better at keeping silent, sometimes eerily so. Fortunately she hasn’t yet grasped the fact that the spot I just chose to hide in isn’t the best spot for her to then immediately choose for her turn, especially when she declares “My turn!” and makes a beeline for it or better yet shoves us out of the way to squish herself in! lol! Oh well imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I suppose 😉
Love! This!
I absolutely loved when my oldest was really into hiding, and he would hide in a completely obvious place (like under his covers on his bed) and then giggle and squeal the whole time.
It always reminds me of the Friends episode where Joey is hiding in a tv box and tries to scare Chandler. So funny, and played out exactly as a kid would do it (here’s the link in case you want a chuckle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88UEKusBiQo)
Genius, this video is. Also – Your description of Mazzy’s inability to stay hidden long enough for you to find her brought back such fantastic memories. Thanks, Ilana.
This is great! And btw your floors are immaculate!
This is awesome! I have my kids trained to stay hidden long enough for me to go to the bathroom – alone. That, my friends, is also awesome.
Aw! what a great look into the mind of a toddler. And so cute!
LOL! My 3 1/2 year old daughter loves hide-n-seek. We’ve learned if we say “Are you ready?” after were dont counting she will ALWAYS yell back “YES!!” and of course gives her hiding spot away. LOL! Too fun!
My 4 YO son insisted on watching it 3 times! Thanks for sharing!
If it makes you feel better – I am not a parent and I read your blog religiously 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
I absolutely need to get myself a head-cam for my daughter. Brilliant idea.
So fun! Hide and seek is a favorite in our apartment, too. My son is the same age as Mazzy, but he loves to hide–only thing is, he will hide repeatedly in the same place we just found him. “Again!” as he pulls the cover up over his head again, or runs behind the glider in full sight of Mommy and Daddy : ) But somehow he’ll wait and wait. I’ve actually answered an email or two while he waits for me to find him…
This is a very beautiful and interesting picture, i enjoyed your article it has great detail in it, thanks for sharing the artistic work, i appreciate your work!
My 2 1/2 year old went on a walk recently in a side-by-side double stroller with her best friend who is almost 3. They were totally entertained by playing hide-and-seek with each other while strapped in next to each other. Amazing.
Oh I just love it!
My kids always LOVED hiding from me.
But the minute I hid, they’d FREAK the f out.
“Give us a hint! Where are you? Bark like a dog?!”
Oh wait. Maybe that was Bill…..
So adorable. We haven’t tried hide and seek yet. I’ll have to do that.
That was just so, so cool. I’d love to do this to Lil’ Bit. It really is like getting a glimpse into their mind!
HAHAHAHAHA my daughter does this too!! She’s hilarious with this game – especially if we’re outside because there I actually have to look for her but no sooner than two steps and she pops out and yells “I found you!!”
Very good info. Lucky me I ran across your blog by accident (stumbleupon).
I have bookmarked it for later!