Hide and seek is the new game in town. It's a classic oldy but goody. These kids are the funniest little hiders, always picking similar spots. Usually Gavin will run outside or to the garage and get into one of the vehicles or in the truck bed. He's laughing and giggling the whole time, and calling out,  "You'll never ever find me in this spot Garrett!" Of course, Garrett hears this and zeroes in on Gavin's spot, but he's too short to see inside the cars and can't open the door. Soon he gets me to lift him up and confirm the target.
Gavin always asks, "Was that a good hiding spot Garrett?"
"Yeah! I didn't see you at all!"

When it's Garrett's turn, he inevitably heads right to the same spot Gavin was just in, and I have to help him get situated and remind him to keep quiet. Neither one of these boys really gets the point of the game yet, and actually I think they can't stand not to be found right away. Garrett crouches down in the back of the truck, snickering quietly and wriggling with impatience. As soon as he hears his big brother's footsteps approaching, he leaps from his concealment shouting "Surprise! Was this a good spot, Gavin?"

Gavin does come up with some funny ideas for hiding. Yesterday he said to me "I know the perfect hiding spot - I'll just get behind Garrett and follow him while he's looking for me. He can't see me if I'm always behind him!" The theory sounded good, but it didn't pan out for Gav. That was the shortest round of H & S ever, I think. The next time it was Gavin's turn, he decided to hide behind me, which led to the second shortest round ever. He didn't know that Garrett's first course of action as a seeker is always to just come to Dad and start asking questions. Garrett came over to me and saw that I had four legs, and the jig was up.

I love this game for them because there really isn't a winner. These boys are both terribly sore losers. I mean, they get so upset when they lose that I don't let them have bike races or anything like that anymore. They seem to be in constant competition with each other, and it drives Sara and I crazy. They're not only sore losers, but they are sore winners as well, which is even worse. They obnoxiously celebrate their own victories in a way that would get them a penalty flag from any referee in America. I hate to discourage them from wanting to win and succeed at what they're doing, but the cost to the other sibling's ego is sometimes devastating. Gavin is getting a little better at keeping his victory exclamations to himself. When he's trying to bottle up an "I'm first, I win, I'm first, I win.." this is what his face looks like:

Garrett finally figured out a variable of the "car as hiding spot" theme and went underneath. I explained the danger to him and that under the car is an "off limits" spot, and of course he had to retort that he's seen me crawl under the car lots of times. What a smart alec.
"You could get squished like a bug." I told him.
"Would I look like this?" he said, making the face seen below:

Playing hide and seek is a perfect game for them because it is always about taking turns, creating new ideas for hiding, and commending each other's ideas. There are no winners or losers, so they just play together with no gloating or hurt feelings. Don't get me wrong, I believe in healthy competition, but its going to have to wait with these two.