Tuesday, February 22, 2011

The Hider

Our second son, Daniel, at about the age of 3 took great delight in hiding, or escaping, from his parents at every opportunity.  We don't remember when this began, but can only assume that one harmless, non-event made some kind of impression upon him as being entertaining.  For a time, we could stop, or find, him by the cackles of merriment as he made his escape, or tried to hide.  But then, he got wise to the weakness in his behavior.

One day, we were in a clothing store.  As I remember it, we were shopping for coats for the boys.  We let-go of Daniel in order to determine the appropriate size for his brother.  Moments later, he was gone.  We heard no warning-giggle, nor any laughter of self-satisfaction...just silence.  We had people watch the door, as we went fixture-by-fixture through all of the displays, searching for the little sneak.  We found him in a circular rack of jackets.  The height of the fixture, and length of the jacket arms, gave him complete heat-to-foot coverage.  And, the open 'middle' of the fixture allowed him a comfortable space.  As usual, he laughed almost uncontrollably upon being caught...we left immediately.

Grocery shopping was another experience altogether.  Sitting in the buggy-seat resulted in loud and prolonged protests from Daniel.  We experimented with our own version of a child-leash.  But that was years before they were commercially available, and we received intense criticism from many onlookers.  So, we held hands...until that critical moment, when it was necessary to release him to get something from a high shelf, freezer box, or other awkward display.  Then, when we turned around to reach for him...he was gone.  His strategy in a grocery store was to run out the front-door as quickly as possible.  It got so bad that one store would announce "Daniel is in the building", as soon as we entered the store.  No joke!  They really did!

Ultimately, he matured enough that we were able to reason with him and have him understand the risks of his entertainment.

No comments:

Post a Comment