I’m just home from my late afternoon walk and I am in the bedroom getting to unzip my heavy jacket. “Boo!” goes a loud and sudden voice directly behind me which in fact scared me because I was certain I was alone in the room. After my heart came back down I realized it was Lydia and when I turned she was smiling with glee.

I’m thinking in some way this is all my fault, not just because I am her father and everything is my fault especially if it’s not. I think it’s tied to our recent games on hide and seek. We play in the house with no special rules. Count to ten in Chinese or English with eyes covered and then go find the hidden ones. Well, the first time Lydia hid I found her to be an elite hide and seek player. After searching the house for 20 minutes I still had no clue where she was and I had to ask her for a hint. In this case, it turned out she behind a curtain standing on the window (inside) ledge which gave the impression the curtain was lying flat against the wall. Indeed I had early on pressed against the curtain and did not notice her. Other times she has been wedged into too small spaces even for her camouflaged her hiding place so well as to just blend in. Elisa on the other hand just runs to the coach and buries her eyes into her arms as then yells “I’m here”. As Yang astutely pointed out yesterday, Elisa thinks she is winning the game if she can’t see the person looking for her, not the other way around.

So it is with the confidence from hide and seek that Lydia now stealthy moves about the house waiting to be in perfect position to scare the bejuazueas out of me.  Boo!