I'm pretty sure we had a milestone moment this morning, although none of us is actually owning up to it. And it is delicate as nobody wants to actually say the words out loud. I think Sister Big may have outed the Easter Bunny, and while only to herself, I think I saw another tiny apron string stitch fall away.
There is nothing in my house that the kids will not scale, open, climb, sift through, etc. And yes, this is really annoying and violating, but no, I have not successfully made it stop. In good early preparedness intention, I had socked away some books from the bunny. I put them where I figured no child would have any interest; the plastics cabinet, behind the pitchers only used in summer.
This morning, there was not the usual rush to the table on the part of Sister Big. There was a dampened enthusiasm. And when she took the books from her basket, there was a very tiny paling of the face, followed by a meek "Oh. I....really wanted to...read these......I've seen them...before and...I wanted to ...read them." For a child who just received a book she has begged for since Christmas, this was a bit of a tip-off.
She also received from the bunny items that were identical to those that she had received yesterday from her extended family, and I could see the question in her brain even though she didn't ask it. We sat together and she kept sneaking peeks at me, and I, at her. And neither of us knew what to say.
And now, she is happily playing with her sisters in the drive-way with sidewalk chalk and riding her bike, and blowing bubbles in the thirty-nine degree morning air and I'm wondering, as I often do with her "ready to fall out" dangling tooth... Do I just do a quick, clean removal, or let her come to me with her tooth, and in this case, the truth, just dangling?
If we were a single child family, this would be an easy decision. However Sister Middle and Sister Little are still full on believers. There is no quick and clean excision of the bunny from our routine at this point. I don't remember when I lost my bunny belief, but I wish I had some recollection of how it happened and what made it better. For today we are just dancing around the subject and hoping that the candy coma sets in early to buy a little more time.
And next year, I'm going to simply order my basket from Amazon and have the postal service drop it off on Sunday morning as they just did with the remainder of the basket items.
I guess I'll have them for next year, as along as I can hide them well enough.
There is nothing in my house that the kids will not scale, open, climb, sift through, etc. And yes, this is really annoying and violating, but no, I have not successfully made it stop. In good early preparedness intention, I had socked away some books from the bunny. I put them where I figured no child would have any interest; the plastics cabinet, behind the pitchers only used in summer.
This morning, there was not the usual rush to the table on the part of Sister Big. There was a dampened enthusiasm. And when she took the books from her basket, there was a very tiny paling of the face, followed by a meek "Oh. I....really wanted to...read these......I've seen them...before and...I wanted to ...read them." For a child who just received a book she has begged for since Christmas, this was a bit of a tip-off.
She also received from the bunny items that were identical to those that she had received yesterday from her extended family, and I could see the question in her brain even though she didn't ask it. We sat together and she kept sneaking peeks at me, and I, at her. And neither of us knew what to say.
And now, she is happily playing with her sisters in the drive-way with sidewalk chalk and riding her bike, and blowing bubbles in the thirty-nine degree morning air and I'm wondering, as I often do with her "ready to fall out" dangling tooth... Do I just do a quick, clean removal, or let her come to me with her tooth, and in this case, the truth, just dangling?
If we were a single child family, this would be an easy decision. However Sister Middle and Sister Little are still full on believers. There is no quick and clean excision of the bunny from our routine at this point. I don't remember when I lost my bunny belief, but I wish I had some recollection of how it happened and what made it better. For today we are just dancing around the subject and hoping that the candy coma sets in early to buy a little more time.
And next year, I'm going to simply order my basket from Amazon and have the postal service drop it off on Sunday morning as they just did with the remainder of the basket items.
I guess I'll have them for next year, as along as I can hide them well enough.
