Let’s play hide and seek!

Since I’m having nothing better to write about these days apart from the weather and my kids, maybe because I have nothing better to talk about or I love to repeat, like I just did…and continue to do so, day in and out with myself , with my kids.. with the world I’m in contact with. Even if I’m going to be held in contempt of loving the sound of my own voice, however irksome it may be, I dare to do this again because its become second nature to me.
To keep up with my reputation, let me start by saying that, the freezing temperatures continue. And when its like this outside, what game would we pick to play, if hubby dear was not allowed to play cricket or tennis in the basement. They would invariably pick hide and seek. Can’t speak for the older generation, although, I burst out laughing as I imagine both the MiL and FiL play hide and seek with each other, as a young couple, like we did. I’m referring to the days when we were the newest couple in town. I would hear Hubby dear's car park outside and would be hit with this pang of excitement,  I would run to the nearest closet or anywhere in the house and hide.
Hubby dear would enter and be sure I’m home, for obvious reasons. It being, he didn’t expect this new girl on the block to go out trekking a whole mile and half to shop at the nearest store without any money on her. There weren’t any parks or gyms nearby where I could be expected to be burning of extra fat I didn’t have. He would peep into the closet, in the bathroom tub, and the den, under the table, and behind the sofa while I would take this chance of sneaking out from the closet, the same closet he had peeped inside, and jump at him from behind with a “BOO”.   I used to play these silly games with him with all the excitement of a kid. I had passed this baton over to the kids, a few years back.  I no longer could hold that seat as I had officially been declared a mom, the first time my kids called me “Mama”.
“P, you be the “IT” “, R calls.
Hubby dear, takes the responsibility of hiding all of them while the “IT” counts.    Most times, the person is right in front of you, but camouflaged.  One time, Hubby dear had laid under the pillows along the length of the sofa. Standing right in front of him, we had not been able to spot him.  Another time, they had felt like a pile of laundry hiding in the laundry basket (which isn’t an option for the triplets now since, they don’t fit). Sometimes, they are clinging to the wall and almost blend into it like a chameleon. This gets really challenging after 1 or 2 rounds of play because everybody is smarter by that many hiding spots.
Playing this with R now, is a different experience.  Hubby dear would have hid her and just as the seeker is looking for her, she will come out of her spot, right in front of them saying
“Sod-dee..I’ve to go pee pee”
After she’s done with the business, she would return back to her hiding spot talking to “IT”, “Ok,  I’m ready, you can find me now!”   At her age, when pretend play takes most of their playtime, this game is more like a pretend play to her.
Papa would have taken all that effort in cleverly concealing her and as soon as “IT” is around trying to find her..he shouts out a warning..
“R, don’t move,  ”IT” is looking for you..don't move”
“OK”, she shouts from her hiding place.
Another time, when it was time to find R, P yells asking,
“R, where are you hiding?”
“In the closet” she shouts back.
This morning, P was home because she had dared to cough in class.  She got the privilege of baby sitting R, which mostly entails playing her games, her way, as many times as she asks to repeat it. P just needed to do this much.  R suggested they play hide and seek. Every time it was R’s turn to hide, P yelled out asking
“Where are you hiding, R?”
Unfailingly the reply comes..“Under the table”!
When it was P’s turn to hide, after hearing P mutter, asking herself where she should hide…
R suggests..”P, You can hide in the closet”
and when P is trying to find a spot to hide..
“R, stop following me, go and count!” P tells R.
“You are my best friend..don’t tell me to go away. I need to see where you are going to hide” she replies.
“You are so annoying, R”, P says, feeling frustrated, that she is unable to play a decent game with her.
Childhood memories are so ephemeral, right?. How can I remind P, that they played this game with the same innocence when they were of R’s age.
“Mama, she hides in the same spot always!”, P complains to me.
Hide and Seek has become R’s favorite game of all. She loves to have any company who can pretend to play this with her. The triplets, play this seriously but, tolerate R in their game (because they have no choice) unable to appreciate the cuteness that comes with her age.
While all this happens around me,I get to watch the show, and an opportunity to type this idea into my editor.