Thursday, March 12, 2009

Rowan and I had no idea what today had in store for us. Only on Halloween or perhaps Friday the 13th could one expect such terror...

The day was cold; it was grey and oh so gloomy. I was sorting the washing and Rowan was playing around our bedroom. Suddenly there was complete silence. It was so eery. "Rowan! Where are you?"... Nothing. "Where's my boy?" ... Still nothing. A deep breath - in and out.

Suddenly I heard a clanking sound coming from the closet. I walked over very quietly to inspect. There it was again! "Rowan? Are you hiding from Mom again?" The slight movement and excited little giggle coming from the dark reaches of our closet came as such a relief. Of course he is hiding from me. No need to feel frightened anymore. All I needed to do now was to play along.

I slipped through the curtains into the closet. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. All I could see peering through to the back of the closet were the clotheslined walls to my side and an open passage down the centre. I looked around some more and finally spotted some blond hair sticking out above my shirts.

My role in this game was to pretend not to know where he was and so I carefully looked in every place that I knew he wasn't. He was pretty good at the game too. He kept completely still. After I searched the closet I walked back out with a big sigh and said "I can't find him anywhere!" Still silence. This was my cue to go back in and start the search all over again. I happily obliged. My strategy would stay the same since toddlers actually enjoy repetition, or so I thought. I expected everything to go exactly as it did just minutes ago, but boy was I wrong!

I opened the curtain and started my search again in a place that I knew he wasn't hiding. I placed my hand on the hanger to my right and slid it across the bar when "AAAAARHHH!" There he was! He moved away from the original spot! This was completely unexpected and gave me a huge fright. He obviously didn't expect me to react quite as strongly and the look of bewilderment on his face was just too precious.

The great thing about playing with young children is that it takes you back to all the fun that you had as a child when your imagination was functioning at peak performance. If you are lucky you can still harness that same energy and catch a glimpse of a reality altered by imagination. It is exciting and sometimes when your imagination runs away with you as mine did today, you might just be in for a big surprise.

Have a happy Friday the 13th!
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1 comment:

  1. So cute. Always having someone to play with: one of the many reasons to be thankful for being a momma. Otherwise we 30-somethings look a bit silly playing hide and seek all alone.

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