Out of the Mouths of Babes

Hide and Seek Toddler Style

- Haidee 4 Comments

So, lately the boys have been wanting to play hide and seek a lot but our house is tiny. Like, 80 square metre tiny! And there are really only so many places this mum can hide. Still the game manages to play out like this every single time.Hide and Seek3

‘Mum! Muuuuum! Play hide and seek with us!’

Children run off to hide. I count to 10 and wander around the house saying all the places I am looking that I know they aren’t and avoiding the one place they always are. I mean always. It’s like Groundhog Day over and over and over again. Finley (the little one) is always in the linen closet and jumps out within 10 seconds of my saying ‘Ready or not here I come!’. Boom, out pops the 2 year old gleefully announcing ‘Here I am!’ followed by giggling from under the duvet on my bed (doona for you foreign folk).

Next up is my turn to hide. The three year old counts to 10 like he is in a speed counting race and I have about 3 seconds to hide behind a door. About 15 seconds post ready or not the 3 year old is crying.

Mummy is GONE! She’s gone invisible!

Followed closely by wailing and tears. Yes, real tears. Wet tears. Seriously, 15 seconds. I then have to giggle or bang the wall or something to show him I am not invisible and I am just hiding.

Then we repeat.

Linen closet, duvet, tears, repeat. Linen closet, duvet, tears, repeat.

Please tell me I am not the only one!

What games do you play in your house and how do they play out?

I think we need a new game.

Mummascribbles

Wobbly Bits

- Haidee Leave a comment

I spent a bit of time pondering whether to share this. But it is too good not to write down so I decided to take the leap and let people have a giggle at my expense.

Because I work I have my showers in the morning (by morning I am talking 5am morning, too early to be up morning, go back to bed morning) and my boys very rarely see me get dressed (in other words, to see me without clothes is something completely foreign). It was not something I set out to hide, it is just the way it is.

The other night C was in my bed (yes, I know, he should have been in his but ya know, that’s how we roll) when I was getting into my pajamas and he looks up at me and says ‘Mummy, you are all wobbly!’. Amused I pointed at my tummy and said ‘This?’ and he says ‘No, those!‘ pointing upwards ‘Those mummy, they are all wobbly, you’re all wobbly!’. I immediately started laughing (and I admit it, I was secretly relieved that he wasn’t talking about my stomach which has seen better days) and I went and told my husband. When I came back C says to me sadly ‘I’m sorry mummy, I was only telling the truth’. Bless. Definitely gave me my giggle for the evening!

Babble

- Haidee Leave a comment

Children are strange creatures. Cohen has always been behind with his speech and worried me silly. He’s on a publicly funded waiting list for speech therapy but in the last few months has come in leaps and bounds and I wonder where he even picks up his words! Like, where did he learn ‘parrot’? I would be far more inclined to say bird but right now everything that flies is a parrot. A mouse is a snail. Logical? He can count to 20 and recognise numbers and he is the most polite little boy ever.

‘Cohen, it’s nap time!’

‘No thanks mummy, thanks anyway but no thank you!’

What do you even say to that? You can’t say ‘No, don’t be naughty’ because he is so polite in saying no! Everything is thank you, no thank you, you’re welcome. I’m very proud of these manners!

He is also very caring. I have been sick with an awful head cold this week and he has a very caring nature so he has been looking after me. I was lying on the couch and he got me a blanket and put it over me, tucking my feet under the blanket too ‘All better!’ he says. Then he gets his foam couch and puts that on me too. Then the bean bag. Then a pillow pet. Then a few soft toys and a few more pillows. ‘There you go, all better now mummy!’. Uh huh, a mountain on me so I couldn’t move. Child logic!

I love it so much being able to communicate with him and have babbling conversations. Finley is well ahead of himself and joins in by repeating everything. It’s just gorgeous and probably why the anniversary of my mums death this year passed without any tears. I think I am moving on. I think I have stopped pining. I think my life is full. What a great feeling!