Can I Tivo My Life?

It would be really nifty to be able to record everything I see. I don't need to keep all of it. I don't really need to keep the majority of it, but every so often something worthy of saving happens, and since I'm not usually walking around with the camcorder, I miss it. Almost without fail the funny things involve Ian, since Noah isn't quite up to snuff with doing hilarious things yet.

Usually when he does something noteworthy I run over to grab the camcorder then come back and try to convince him to replay the scene, but it never works. He's usually all for playing actor, but things are never quite as good the second time around. They lose some of the spontaneity, or he tries to ham things up a little too much.

The latest such a situation occurred during a spirited game of Hide the Monkey™. That might sound a little dirty, but it's really just wholesome fun. Over the years we've accumulated four small stuffed monkeys, and the game works just like you'd expect. I hide the monkeys and Ian finds them.

There was a definite progression to the game. When we started it was all I could do to convince him to leave the room while I hid them. He didn't quite grasp the whole hide-and-go-seek concept. Now, though, he's a champ. He's pretty good at counting, too, so he'll actually run out to the kitchen and stay there for a count of ten.

So this morning we were all hanging out in Ian's room playing Hide the Monkey™. I'm glad Sarah was there to witness the fun, because trying to explain it to her afterwards just wouldn't have been as good.

Ian had just returned to the room and started his monkey search, only this time with a twist. He'd picked up a small plastic bowling pin from one of his toyboxes and was wielding it like a sword. He found his first monkey which was sitting on the edge of a card table between the wall and the side of Noah's crib. He poked at it, again and again, grinning at us as he did so. Finally he pulled the monkey out and tossed it to me, then turned back to his hunt, immediately spotting the monkey I'd hidden in a fold of a nearby beanbag.

Without warning he gave it a mighty whack with the bowling pin, which had suddenly become a club. If it had been a baby seal we'd be partway to a new coat. He plucked it out of the beanbag and gave it another whack for good measure. Sarah and I couldn't resist bursting out laughing, which to a three year old translates to "Do that again and again until it's not funny anymore".

Hide the Monkey™ had now become Hunt the Monkey, which involved finding the hidden primates and then beating them into submission with a few good blows with his club before finally tossing them into a pile like freshly landed fish.

I'm sure trying to describe it doesn't do it justice. It's like trying to tell someone about last night's Seinfeld; you're replaying it in your mind and it's hilarious, but telling someone else about it falls a little short. You'll have to take my word for it.

In retrospect, it's probably better I wasn't holding a camcorder for the whole even. Someone would have seen it and suggested Ian seek counseling for his aggression problems. We'll just keep him away from real seals and I bet he'll be fine.