Peekaboo Junkie

Rai, I'll be completely honest with you. Until this past month or two, I never quite understood the allure of the game of peekaboo. To me, it was just another one of those children's games or activities that I deemed too silly for my child. I added it to Barney and Teletubbies as children's things that we must avoid at all costs.
My tune has changed. It's hard to retrace our steps to decipher exactly how it happened but, over the span of several weeks, step by small step, the game of peekaboo grew and developed in our household until, one morning, I found myself holding a blanket in front of my face, then dropping it dramatically and shouting "peekaboo!" with all the vigor and gusto of a circus ringmaster. I stopped myself, paused, and thought, "How, oh how, did I get to this point?" It's like I had crossed some behavioral boundary that I had vowed to never even get near.
Thinking about it, I quickly realized that peekaboo is not a game that one introduces into their interaction with their baby. It's a game that naturally develops. It's not a cultural thing, it's universal. When a baby reaches the stage when they are starting to make sense of object impermanence, peekaboo is an inevitability.
For us, it must have begun sometime when we were changing your shirt or sweater. For that brief moment when the shirt became stuck on your head, we disappeared. "Oh, no! Where did Mom and Dad go?" Then, as the shirt slid over your head, there we were again. And, you laughed, your default response to anything that is interesting or entertaining. Then, our natural response, of course, was to keep you laughing. We put a blanket over you and.... pulled it off. You shrieked with joy. One thing led to another and here I was on this morning like another other, doing something I was convinced I'd never do.
These perennial children's activities we all know persist for a reason. They are games that have been developed not by some marketing team but by parents in response to their child's developmental stages. My mind has been opened. I'm ready to embrace all children's games. Paddy-cake here I come! Hopscotch? Bring it on! And Barney? Well, he's not a part of the great corporate profit-making machine, right? He must be here for a good reason too. I think we'll have him attend your 1st birthday party!

Video:
Rai's favorite version of peekaboo. He's on the bed. We hide down below and pop up in random spots around the perimeter of the bed. He looks on curiously when we're out of view, searching for the spot where we may appear. Watch for the quick shake and look of shock when we appear. Hilarious!