Marco Polo Chocolate?

My son has loved playing Marco Polo in the pool for a while.  I still need to clarify with him and my husband that when you play this game, your eyes are supposed to be CLOSED.  Oh well.

I have written previously about "purple light" and we still use "red light, green light, yellow light , purple light" when walking but when we went on vacation a little bit ago, we needed a new variation.

We went on a trip in beautiful northern Idaho and embarked on what my husband thought would be a brief hike.  He thought there was no way my son would make it for a 2.75 mile loop of hilly terrain and cliffs.  I was doubtful as well, but thought we'd make it further than my husband thought.

It was a beautiful hike but a little scary with some of the sheer drops.  The place could be featured in those cliff-diving shows they sometimes put on TV.  Our four year old understands that falling hurts,  but we tried to explain that falling down in this location would MORE than hurt (without scaring the living daylight out of him- a difficult line to walk and I'm not sure how we will do this in the teenage years).

We held his hand a lot and I really wanted to be able to hike to the "swinging bridge" we had heard about.  My husband thought we'd just walk for 20 minutes and then head back.  My son had just played non-stop at a park and water play area for 2 hours, so while I was trying to have realistic expectations of his abilities, I also knew if I could bottle him up it would be more potent than an energy drink.

My son was happy to keep hiking and so we kept going.  At a certain point, my husband looked fairly amazed we had made it as far as we had and we were closer to the bridge than we were to the beginning of the hike.  It might just be possible for us to make it, my husband said.  My son started growing a little weary, or bored- not sure which or maybe a combination of the two.  I promised him that if we made it to the bridge with him walking (instead of being carried) that I had some chocolate in my bag that he could have.  My husband looked at me puzzled.  Yes, I told him, I brought chocolate- I'm sure I'm not the only mom who carries bribery with her (or an afternoon treat for myself).  The chocolate was definitely motivational for my son.

We made it through the hike to the bridge, got some great pictures and then we were on the land-locked side of the mountain, so we could give my son a little more free reign with moving around as there wasn't a worry about him falling off a cliff.  His spirits seemed to get deflated (or the sugar wore off) after a little bit and we still had a little ways to go.  Over 2.5 miles of hiking had made my husband and I a little weary too, so we weren't jumping to carry a four-year old.

 I told him when we got to the end of the hike, he could have another piece of chocolate.  Somehow this evolved into a game of "Marco Polo Chocolate".  My son would call out, "Chocolate- where are you?" and my husband or I, dependent on who was ahead would call back as if we were "Chocolate".  This was great motivation and fun for my son, especially on parts of the trail that curved or changed where he could not see "Chocolate".  This made the end of the hike a lot more fun.  Then it happened.  What seemed like a tiny tumble over a small root sticking out in the trail was EPIC.

 For some reason- I'm not sure if it's an anatomical issue with his nose, an adventurous attitude or many factors combined- my son get's more bloody noses than anyone else I know.  Not only did he get a bloody nose, but a severely swollen lip.  It was so swollen he actually had difficulty eating dinner later that evening.  There's nothing like having a bloodbath all over you on a public trail with a kid crying bloody murder.  Our relaxing, beautiful hike became horrible.  No chocolate was going to solve this issue.  A fellow hiker stopped by and stated that she was a lifeguard and gave us some baby wipes to try to clean up some of the mess.  She also said we should pinch my son's nose (as said previously- great advice, but not one a four-year old wants to take).

We ended up getting him back to our hotel, cleaning up and trying to continue with the day- he was a little more subdued than usual and fell asleep in the car on the way to our next destination.  He was a real trooper.  He then went on to toss stones on the beach and walk in the cold lake water, even though he looked like a disaster had happened on his face.  He did remarkably well and even survived going to Mass on the Vigil of the Feast of the Assumption.

I had had a lot of fun playing, "Marco Polo Chocolate" with him, but was pretty sure he would never want to the play that game again- after how it ended.  Apparently he is not scarred for life.  His face (and lip) have recovered and a couple of days ago he called out, "Chocolate, where are you?????"  Glad to know the power of chocolate is stronger than the fear of falling.