Games Malachy Plays: Hide and Seek

Mal loves playing hide and seek.  When we first started playing with him, we taught him to count to 10 (he usually only made it to 5) and then he would say, "ready or not, here I come."  Then he would come look for us, but he was afraid to search too much because we would always pop out and scare him (he loves this BTW).  It was more a game of scare than hide and seek.  

When he started doing the hiding, he didn't really grasp the concept.  I would count and then start to look for him and then he would immediately pop out and run towards me yelling.  We explained time and time again that he was supposed to stay until we found him, but he could never stay put.  He tried to stay put, but he didn't understand that we weren't supposed to know where he was.

One day, we were playing and he said to me, "Mommy, you count to 10.  I am going to hide behind the couch."  Attempts to explain the whole point of the game to him went nowhere...until last week.

I know you can't see him,
but Malachy is hiding in the hallway.

Mal wanted to play, and he wanted me to count.  "Ready or not, here I come," I called out.  I heard him run into the hall to hide, so looked for him everywhere but the hallway.  Normally, he would have come running out about 10 seconds into hiding, but he stayed there while I searched.  He giggled a few times, but he stayed there.  I finally ventured into the hallway where I could not possibly see him (as he had his face hidden and he could not see me).  I walked right over him and still he stayed put.  Finally, I found him and he was beyond pleased with himself at staying put for so long.

*sniff* My little boy is growing up.  I am going to savor the fact that he still thinks we can't see him if he can't see us.