All's fair in hide-and-seek

I had an uncommonly easy time picking up the Swedish kids from dagis (daycare) and school today. No fighting while yanking on snowsuits, no bribes needed to get them to wear their gloves, scarves and hats, no pleading with them to ride in the stroller. The 2-year-old can say "No!" in more than one language.

They ate dinner relatively calmly (pasta & ketchup featured on the menu, so I guess that's a given.) The TV cable box was disconnected, so we actually read books and played games, which doesn't happen so easily anymore.

We read The Little Engine that Could, we played keep-the-balloon-off-the-floor, and we played Hide-and-Seek. Actually, we played Naked Hide-and-Seek. The littlest kids thought it was the greatest thing in the world to take all their clothes off and chase each other in a circle for 4 or 5 minutes straight, hollering the entire time. And then Hide-and-Seek. I let them, because I got a kick out of it, and thought it might tire them out a bit for their parents, so why not?

The 2-year-old is still learning the art of Hide-and-Seek, and often pops up with "Här är jag!" (Here I am!) before anyone has even started seeking. And the 4-year-old girl is still learning to count numbers in a straight line (as in, "ett, två, fyra, åtta, sju, elva, jag kommer!") so the game is entertaining. I sat on the couch, helping point out good places to hide and helping count. The first 3 or 4 times, the 2-year-old popped up after about 30 seconds to show where he was hiding, and there was immense giggling and excitement on the part of both kids. But the next time he hid, he stayed down and he stayed quite. I knew he was crouched behind the couch, and the little girl & I "looked" all over the living room for him. I thought, "Wow, he is really getting the hang of this game!" as he hadn't uttered a peep.

But we found him, and soon found out why he hadn't jumped up immediately. He was squatting in a puddle of pee behind the couch. He looked up at us with a big smile and said in his incredibly adorable baby-talk Swedish "Jag har kissat!" (I peed!)

Thank god it didn't get on their expensive-looking Oriental rug. But I learned my lesson, no more naked hide-and-seek. In his adorable baby-talk Swedish, he dutifully told his pappa when he got home that he had peed on the floor, after which I had to explain that I allowed this guy's children to run amok naked in his living room and urinate freely. Thankfully, he still paid me.

They lulled me into a false sense of I'm-actually-in-control with how easy they were to get home. I am still a rookie. They suckered me by making me think the afternoon had gone so smoothly, only to pee on the floor, showing me that kids are never easy. Such clever little things.