Gone, and back again

Somewhere in these months the start of separation anxiety turns up, and the wanting underneath it is a sign of their attachment to you — their first and greatest love. This game is the smallest, cheapest version of the thing that is hard: you go, you come back, nothing at all is at stake, and it can be played fifty times on a good afternoon before it ever has to matter.

🛡️ A baby enjoying this leans and lunges toward you without warning, so play it somewhere they cannot fall from: your lap with a hand at their back, or firm floor. Never propped on a sofa, a bed, an armchair or a changing table. Your hands cover your own face and never theirs — nothing goes over a baby's face at any age. And when the game grows into you ducking out of sight, put them down on the floor first: a raised surface is not somewhere to leave a baby, not even for the second this takes.