Ready or Not, Here I Come!!

One...two...three...four....

Three pairs of bare toddler feet fly past my kitchen counter. Drew has two friends over for the morning, and I have barely seen him in the last hour.

But, for the past ten minutes, they have recruited me to be "It" in a riveting game of Hide and Seek.

Five...six...seven...

While I'm impressed that they all seem to understand the basic concepts of the game, I wonder if I should point out that it's much easier for "It" to find them when they ALL insist on hiding together in the same place.

I simply follow the sounds of muffled laughter, then look for six arms and six legs protruding from underneath a stack of pillows or bed sheets.

I barely get the words out, "There you are!" and they scream their little heads off, delighted by the thrill of this chase.

Eight...nine...ten.

I open my eyes and announce, "Ready or not, here I come!" This time, the giggles are definitely coming from mommy's room. With the lights off, there are many great dark corners for hiding, and I wonder if they will be able to elude my search for a little longer this time.

Three little light beams dance across my ceiling and closet doors. Ah, they've found the stash of flashlights. I try to pretend not to see them, but the giggles are already erupting into full-blown squeals, and now they're shining their flashlights directly into my eyes. So much for "hiding".

Drew is not good at hiding much of anything. Even when he knows he's about to do (or has already done) something wrong, he announces his transgression to anyone who will listen.
"I didn't share toys with my friend, Daddy!"
"I just drawed on the dog."
"You told me I could have two Skittles, Mommy. I'm getting three right now!"

It's like he carries around a constant flashlight.
"Look! I'm hiding something over here!"
"Don't let me do this."
"Are you paying attention to what I just did?"

So, while I'm counting to ten today, I'm counting my blessings. Because I know that someday he's going to figure out how to play a much more sophisticated game of "Hide and Seek", whether I'm ready or not!