So Much For Surprises ...

Remind me again why I thought it was a pretty neat thing that Aidan learned to read at such an early age ...

... because it totally back-fired. In short, having a child who can read anything results in blown surprises.

I knew what happened as soon as I heard his explosive declaration, "Oohhhhh, cool!" I knew in my gut what he had done; I knew one of the coolest surprises was completely blown, and I knew that none of my Crafty Mommy Truth-Twists (such as the Tooth Fairy near-debacle) would cut it this time.

"Mommy!" he said with glee, as he came barreling into the kitchen. "I just saw your email from Daddy! The subject line said "For Aidan's Birthday" so I knew it was for me, and I saw the Darth Vader piñata! That's soooooo cool!!"

For a brief, halted moment I was hung up on the fact that my young boy could converse eloquently using the words "subject line" in his conversation. And then I blundered through some explanation that it was just something Daddy saw in the store and he thought Aidan would like to see a picture of it ... That might have worked, if Aidan didn't remind me of the darned subject line: "For Aidan's Birthday."

Ah, sigh ... I guess the best thing we can do is just not talk about it anymore, so when the day comes it will be somewhat of a surprise ...

Sure. And I'm also running for the empty seat of Governor of Alaska.