She'd Make A Lousy Spy

I went shopping for Benjamin's Christmas presents this week. I had Bella along, assuming she'd be too busy looking at things for herself to notice what I was stuffing under the groceries. She noticed, though. Immediately. So I said, "These are for Benjamin. You can't tell him about them because they're for Christmas and they are secret so you don't want to ruin his surprise. Do you understand? Do you promise?" She dutifully nodded her head with a sneaky smile on her face showing her delight at being a part of this precious secret.

When we picked Benjamin up from school that day she managed to contain herself just long enough to get him home at which point she burst out with, "We bought you new footy pajamas for Christmas, Benjamin! And we got..." That's as far as she got before I tackled her to the floor, forcibly whispering through clenched teeth, "It's a secret! Remember!?!? Don't tell him!!" Again the smile and the head nod. She stood up and proudly called out, "It's a secret, so I'm not going to tell you that we bought you a ..." I couldn't believe my ears as she revealed yet more gifts!!! I threw my hand over her mouth, dragged her into her room and shut the door. Benjamin excitedly called after us, "Is it true? Is Bella right? Did you buy those things?!" "Bella has no idea what she's talking about! Just ignore her!" I yelled. Luckily he's young enough and naive enough that he believed me and after yet another discussion about not not not NOT telling ANYTHING about what we bought, she finally stopped spilling the beans.

Tomorrow I get to go Christmas shopping without her so I can have at least one item under the tree for him that he doesn't already know about!