Hidden Treasures

Once, not so long ago, Paige became obsessed with Hide and Seek. It was so cute - she would tell me to count, and then she would go stand smack dab in the middle of whatever room we were in, giggling loudly (needless to say, each round ended pretty quickly - you can only pretend not to see someone standing directly in front of you for so long).

This obsession graduated to hiding objects - or, rather, taking things out of my hand, running to the Time Out chair and putting said item under a pillow. Ha - what a little trickster! So funny!

Now these obsessions are not so funny. Paige has become a pretty decent hider. Granted, she still is fairly quick to reveal her hiding spot with the giggles. But, there are usually a few moments of sheer panic on my part where I quickly run through thoughts of whether or not the doors are locked, if she could have climbed into the dryer, if she could have opened a window (you know, REALLY logical things, since she can't reach the windows, the laundry room door has a childproof knob on it, and of course the doors are locked - we live in Broad Ripple, for God's sake).

Oh, and what a hoot hiding objects has become. I spent 20 minutes last week looking for my cell phone. We got rid of our home phone, so I couldn't call it to find it. Paige was sitting on the couch watching me, and I finally realized she was quietly giggling. "Did you hide my phone, Paige?" "He, he - I sure did Mommy! I hided it sooooo good! You will never find it!" Followed by what I am fairly certain was an imitation of an evil villain laugh.

I did find it, eventually. Okay, not eventually - actually pretty quickly. Right about the time after threatening to turn off the TV for the rest of the day. And I may or may not have threatened to not let her have her blankie in bed that night (Hey, I never said I played fair all the time).

Today, while Paige was at school, Blair and I decided we needed to go to the mall. (She's a smart one, that little Blair! Full of good ideas!) 15 minutes, two overturned diaper bags, an emptied toy box and one emptied craft drawer later, I found my wallet. In with Paige's sticker books.

Ugh, Paigers! So, so irritating. But, I'm not going to lie - also pretty funny. Stinker. Now we'll just have to talk about how hiding Daddy's things is even more fun that hiding Mommy's ...