Hide 'n Seek

Nothing gets near-hysterical, tear-jerking belly laughs from me than playing hide and seek with Ava in the house. Even now as I write this, I'm recovering from a tear-eliciting spell of laughing as Ava was looking for her daddy who was hiding behind a curtain panel. The curtain panel is "floor-length" without actually touching the floor and of course, the curtain was billowed out with Greg behind it and his feet were obviously sticking out. Ava walked by him twice without noticing the odd shape of the curtain or the incongruous feet below. I started laughing at her complete lack of observation skills and my laughter set Greg off chuckling so Ava became alert to the sound. She zeroed in on the sound and found Greg.

Ava's lack of ability in searching out the poorly hidden person makes me laugh, but more than anything, it's her rather obvious hiding spots. When I count out loud and she scrambles to hide, I don't bother closing my eyes because she doesn't even realize. She has lain belly-down along the top of the backrest of the futon (which is folded up in sitting position, not bed position) in the guest room with her face buried in the crack between futon and the wall. She has hidden under her bed with her feet sticking out. She has put her head and shoulders under bed covers with her bottom sticking up in the air. She hides underneath our rack of wet clothes hung to dry, which does not even afford her any cover but she thinks she's hidden from sight. She tries to wedge herself underneath an end table without much success. She has even balled up in an armchair with her eyes screwed shut.

Besides her adorably uninventive hiding spots, it's how she is oblivious to my presence while searching for a place to hide. She leaves the room but sometimes she will hide in the same room I am counting in. For example,  I would start counting while sitting on one end of couch with an end table. She would cram herself underneath the said end table, completely ignorant to the fact that I can see her very clearly and can see the table wobbling and squeaking on the hardwood floor. I think it's her innocence, lack of cunning and suspicion, self-centered perception of reality, and her very childlike simplicity that make me laugh. There's never a day now that I don't laugh at her singing in Turkish, mimicking us, making outrageous faces, her fierce attempts at persuasion, her antics, and all the little tiny details that I wish I could capture and bottle up.

I'll be sad when she becomes too smart and discerning for her own good. For now, I'll enjoy this funny 3-year-old stage of her life.