Parents often adopt different roles within the family. In our family, Mom has the read-a-story, cuddle-time, make-the-meals, give-the-permission role. Dad has the go-outside and get-on-the-floor-and-romp-around role. Thus as soon as Sean gets home, the kids immediately start hitting him up for game time. The most popular among these is the classic Hide N Seek.
The other day, I overheard such a game in play. This particular game, however, has some interesting variations. For one thing, Joshua has managed to contract the Summer Cold that Won't End, so he was laid up on the couch and couldn't get up and hide. He therefore became the all-time counter for whoever was seeking at the time. (Love it when they work these things out!)
After that was established, I overheard Anna say "Ok! Ruby is hiding!" This becomes more intriguing once you know that Ruby was a roly-poly that Anna found outside and was keeping in a cardboard box. Apparently Anna was hiding the box when it was her turn to hide and Daddy was required to find not only Anna, but Ruby's box as well.
That would have been a funny enough story, but then I overheard this conversation:
Matthew: "It's Crinkletype Ozzlestein's turn to count!"
Dad: "Crinkletype Ozzlestein is going to count and seek us?"
Matthew: "YES!"
Dad: "How is that going to work?"
Matthew: "He's going to count to 25!"
Dad: "But how?"
Matthew: "He's going to do it FAST!"
This conversation becomes hilarious once you know who Crinkletype Ozzlestein* is. C.O. is, in fact, the kids' stuffed gorilla. Who apparently was going to count to 25 and then come find everyone. (For the record, the standard count for H & S in our house is 20. I am not sure why. C.O. had to count five more than everyone else. I am also not sure why Matthew insisted that C.O. do the counting and not Joshua - I believe Sean tried to get him to let Joshua do it.)
I walked into the living room to find Anna, Matthew, and a bewildered Daddy crouched down and hiding behind the furniture, waiting for the gorilla to come find them.
There's no such thing as a normal game of Hide n Seek in this house!
*For the record, Crinkletype Ozzlestein was named by Daddy. There is also a Crinkletype Ozzlestein, Jr.
