If You're Gonna Hide...

Having a tiny-sized child definitely has it's interesting little additions to everyday life. For instance the random person thinking my child is the smartest 1 1/2 year old they have ever met, only to find out that they are indeed a year off in the age estimate. But in addition to the random awkwardness of this type of conversation with a perfect stranger, there are a few size related issues that can be a little scary and quite hilarious at the same time. Example: The ability to hide in the most non-obvious of places. Granted sometimes Bella does consider it "hiding" when she simply throws a blanket over her head on the couch as Andy comes in the door from work and remains convinced that he cannot see her until she rips the blanket from her head screams at the top of her lungs.
But when she does decide to really, really hide it can get a little scary for me being that she can fit in places that you wouldn't normally think of. The hamper, Andy's suitcase, inside one of the kitchen cabinets to name a few. There is one spot that she has chosen to favor more than all of the other which is simple to point out now, however the first few times she tried it out it literally took me 20 minutes to find her. You see, Bella can not only fit into small places, she also has possesses a unique skill for a 2 1/2 year old in which she can remain perfectly silent as her tiny little body is tucked away waiting for me to stumble across her. She waits in anticipation for the second when I let out my fake scream of terror at which time she let's out her most fearsome ROOOOAAAAR that happens to be her impression of Sully on Monster's Inc.
Today Bella was in this new favorite spot which happens to be tucked behind the clothes on the lower rack of our rather large walk-in closet. Most kids you would spot right off of the bat, yet Bella can tuck so far back in there and she uses her skilled little hands to steady the movement of the clothes around her to be sure there is no hint of her to be found. Since I know this spot well now, even though she switches up which part of the closet she hides in I knew exactly where she ran ran off to after I stripped her of her Pull-Up this morning. However today it was quite humorous the series of events that followed her hiding session. I did my normal routine where I state a few times "Where did Bella go?? I hope she doesn't scare me!!" This time as she emerged from her hiding place once she knew she was caught I noticed that one of my tennis shoes was following her. As she took a few more steps she also realized that something had decided to join her to come and scare Mommy. She quickly reached the level of a slight freak out that then turned into an all out panic as she frantically turned in circles trying to get rid of this object that was following her at a fierce pace. She had no idea what was going on and kept screaming
"Da shoo is twying to get me Mommy!!! Is a SHOO MONSTER MOMMY!!!"
However I could easily see the problem...and it was truly hilarious. Now, Bella knows NOT to pee-pee on the floor. However it seems that the need to "go" had hit her right in the middle of her hiding time. Due to her stubborn nature she chose to not just make the 6 step run to the potty out of principle for the task at hand. Instead she chose to simply wiggle around on the closet floor to try and stop the natural "flow" of things. Yet apparently during her un-controlled wiggling in efforts to stay hidden and not pee on the floor at the same time she seemed to have great success in snuggling the shoelace of one of my tennis shoes to lay directly between her 2 tiny little butt cheeks just like a big piece of dental floss. Being that I wear a size 5 shoe, it was not hard to see how this tiny hiney could have such a great grip on a worn out Nike, especially in the midst of a panic episode.
Moral of the story: If you're gonna hide, you better put some pants on or at least head to the potty first.