By the way, someone asked in comments why we’ve only seen Maddox a couple of times since she was born. Well, the first twelve months of Sydney’s life, I didn’t post many pictures of her, either; baby blogging didn’t become a regular feature until Syndey was over a year old.
Here’s a secret about very tiny babies: they don’t do much. Maddox eats. She cries. She sleeps. And yes, her brain is working like a fiend, absorbing new information at a rate terrifying to contemplate. Personally, I think that’s all adorable, but it doesn’t provide a big variety of photo-ops. For photogenic cutenetosity, the material becomes much better once the little parasites are mobile.
Or at least, that’s my experience. We’ll see if Nick’s experience is any different over the next year. :-)
Meanwhile, let’s talk about that most venerable and time-honored game: Peek-a-boo.
Step one: The game master (GM) initiates play by hiding her eyes. This renders her effectively invisible; other players must indicate this by saying things like “where’s Sydney? Where’d Sydney go? Have you seen Sydney?” [*] If the GM is peeking between her fingers, it may be helpful for the other players to visibly search for the GM under bowls, inside the toaster, and in their breast pockets.
[*] It is probably for the best if you substitute the name of your particular GM for “Sydney” when you attempt playing Peek-a-boo at home. Alternatively, you could convince your GM’s parents to legally change their child’s name to “Sydney.”
Step two: The GM reveals herself. This step can be accompanied by the GM formally stating “boo!,” if she likes.
Step three: The other players acknowledge the GM reveal with expressions of fear, shock and surprise, both physical and verbal. The GM shows approval of this with peels of laughter, and also by saying “I’m scary” or variations thereof.
Step four: Repeat steps one-three again.
And again.
And again. And again. And again. And, and, and…
Variation: If the GM wants, this exercise can be made into an exploration of supernatural themes in modern-day Western civilization, by the simple expedient of saying “I’m a ghost!” during step one.
By the way, you may have noticed that we keep our GM stored on top of the refrigerator. This is by no means mandatory for playing peek-a-boo, but refrigerator storage can assist in keeping your GM fresh and mold-free.
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She’s cracking herself up!!! She’s adorable, as are these pictures!!!
We’re going to need a D20 version of these rules to crack the mainstream market, Amp.
You omitted an essential part of the infant agenda, Amp: they poop. It is a consequence of eating, after all.
I must congratulate you on your eloquent exposition of the rules of peek-a-boo. As with Parcheesi, innumerable variations exist, but the basic strategy remains the same. (Luckily, AFAIK Parker Brothers has never come up with a marketing concept for peek-a-boo, much less a way to package the same game as 10 different ones.)
D20’s dieing down, I think we need to do it up as a DitV supplement.
Actually, I think Amp needs to post a particular session of Boo! to the Forge actual play forums.
As the GM ages, of course, peek-a-boo turns into hide-and-seek, in which the adult searches high and low for the GM, oblivious to the huge, giggling lump under the bedcovers.
Some GM’s do figure out relatively early how to outwit the grown ups at these games. My GM, for instance, found ways to actually avoid detection when she advanced to hide and seek, leading to the near nervous breakdown of our first au pair who thought she had lost the GM in a Chicago hotel. They’re innocent and then again they’re not, but they’re almost always adorable. Really great pictures, as usual.
storing on fridge only works unless the fridge is from new orleans… then it’s just YUCK!!! :)
(i’m reminded of the line from star wars: what a lovely new smell you’ve discovered (or something like that))
people were spray painting signs on the side of discarded fridges like “free gumbo inside” and “tom benson (nfl team owner) inside”. ours just had a CSI-worthy collection of interesting new bugs that gave us the creepy-crawlies for days. we’d catch ourselves frantically brushing off every time a hair or something innocent tickled our arm.
on topic, our 2yrold loves peekaboo still. & the 4 yr old has moved on to the hide & seek version especially when hearing a “fee fie foe fum” as daddy comes into the bedroom. boo: a game with tireless appeal.
another great one is singing laurie burkner’s “I’m gonnna get you, you better run!” and chasing the toddlers around the house. lots of squeels from that.
any toddler parents who haven’t discovered laurie’s music, i can’t recommend it highly enough. it’s even available on i-tunes. and the kids love the video versions on Noggin.
Oh, I love these pics!!!! What a cutie-pie.
My girls love these pictures…they oooooooooh and aahhhhhhhhhhh everytime.
Hehe, definitely should post Boo! on the game site. Sydney decided to play gladiator tonight (Matt’s name for it) by greasing herself up with vic’s vapor rub (where in the heck did she find it? I swear it was up in back of the bathroom sink). Turn your back for a minute and suddenly the aromatic scent of Vic’s begins to make your nose run and all that good stuff. We then had to chase her around the apartment, trying to keep her from touching furniture that would end up picking up the globs of Vic’s that she’d lavished on her skin so we could bathe her.
And wow am I ever getting to be a “mom” in that I not only knew who you were referring to, SAHD, but also knew the song and the next lines: I’m gonna get you, here I come!
Syd’s favorite LB songs are ‘I’m me and You’re You’, as well as ‘Shakey Egg’, though she’s partial to Backyardigan’s songs and Lazy Town songs.
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