HIDE AND SINK, MEAN GRANDMA

Back in December Rusty brought over his 3 oldest kids for me to babysit while he fixed a hitch on their Dodge Ram to be able pull their camper south.  Well, the kids were in fine form, Jayden 6, Alayna 4, and Noelle 2, all excited to be at GrammyPam's.  Fed 'em.  Let 'em watch an animated cartoon.  Then they got restless and wanted to play.

My parents used to call it the heebie jeebies.  We called it "chase games".  

So, we played hide and sink.  Yes, you read that correctly, they don't know it as hide and seek, they call it hide and sink.  

Well, they're very wise about that game.  After about 3 times of them hiding, while I count, then they count, I hide, and I count and they hide again, I decided to pull one on Jayden.  I got up on the bathroom sink vanity, in the dark, and when he opened the door, he looked all around even behind the door.  While his back was to me, I quietly, ever so snake like, reached out and tickled the nape of his neck.  Holy cannoli, jeepers creepers, he jumped a mile and squealed at the same time!!!!!

That's when I became Mean Grandma.  And all evening, Hide and Sink was called Mean Grandma!  They couldn't get enough! 

Fast forward three months to February, the 2 oldest are here again and they're begging, I mean just a'begging, "Can we play Mean Grandma?"  Well, how was I to live up to the last time?  This time would take some thinking.

Off they went.  I counted to 10 because they're fast, you know.  Alayna and Jayden hid together in the same spot between the couch and credenza, but little 2 y.o. Noelle went behind the living room lace curtain, not only could I see her through the lace but her feet were showing!  The little innocent toddler, she thought she was hid!"

My turn to hide.  I stood up on the edge of the tub behind the bathroom door intending to reach out and grab an ear.  Foiled!  Jayden says, "I saw you through the crack.  You're a good hider."

So, off I went for the second round of being the seeker.  I opened the door to the kids' room, and in my beseeching voice said, "Are they in here?"  

Alayna, snitching on little brother while bouncing on her toes, says,  "He not 'hind the door."

Right.  That's not giving him away.  Chuckle.  Yes he was behind the door!  

Noelle, still not old enough to fully comprehend the game, and so excited she couldn't stand it, says, "No, we in here!"  And she giggles and squirms and comes out from under the twin bed and runs like the dickens right by me, as if I couldn't just reach down and scoop her up!.

Final round, my turn to hide.  I get under the pile of covers on another twin bed where they'd been playing and had made a mess so, my being under there would go unnoticed.  As they trailed each other in, all a'jitter, and slightly touching each other for reassurance, I reached out one hand and grabbed an arm!

Oh, my lands!  It was pandemonium!  Yelps, and squeeks, squeals, and giggles, fast shuffling feet, and run, run, run!  They got all the way down the hall and into the family room before you could say, Jack Splat!

I think I may have foiled myself again, though.

It's their insistence.  They absolutely want another round of Mean Grandma.