Owls on the Stairs

Shane and I invented a new game.

It was a glorious moment.

Shane was running around the "TV room" while I supervised (aka "sat on the couch"). I was feeling like a tired, passive parent when I noticed something. Shane was talking to himself and he was using a lot of prepositions.

"In bed! Out of bed!" Shane said.

My brain clicked. Shane was acting out a book, "Bears in the Night!" by the Berenstains.

I started to give Shane paths to run.

"Shane, go around the toilet! Now, over the pillows! Under the desk!" I called.

Shane loved it. My son has never listened and followed that many directions from me at once.

It energized me. The game evolved.

"Shane! Go down the hall and down the stairs to the spooky door!" (A play on the book if you've read it).

My son made his own connection. Shane started yelling about owls. He hooted and bounced around.

I hooted back. 

Shane ran back up the stairs. I had him back track through my directions until he was "back in bed, safe at last!" (A line from another of our favorite Berenstain Bear books).

Soon, Shane didn't want to go through all the directions: He wanted to scare owls.

The game was to sneak down the stairs and make a racket on the landing.

We scared countless owls. 

I was thrilled for the first 10 to 15 trips, but my voice (and patience) got tired with all my 'scared' hooting performances. I started trying to come up with new ideas and variations to keep myself entertained.  

Shane need monster, owl-scaring, stomping shoes obviously!

Shane was ecstatic. 

Then, when I got tired of going up and down the steps, I convinced Shane to take his stuffed fire ferret, Pabu, with him. He wanted to keep his hands free to bang on walls and make the largest owl-scaring racket possible, so I shoved Pabu in his shirt. My knees were saved!

Later in the day, Roxy joined in the fun. She didn't know what was going on, but people going up and down stairs fit her description of entertainment. I used her as a 'reset' timer. I told Shane that he was so loud and Roxy was so scary that we had to wait for the owls to return. We'd wait 15 to 30 seconds (which was as long as I could dissuade him from hooting) and then the game would begin again...and again....and again!

Shane woke up this morning and immediately asked to scare owls. The game is a winner. Now, I have to survive it! Ha ha!