She Reminds Me of Her Dad

My husband is notorious for being unable to keep a secret. It works in my favor, usually. Except in cases like naming our children, when I would prefer to keep the name top secret until the baby is born to avoid hearing everyone's opinions, but he is running out telling everyone our 5 favorite names the second we discuss them. Gotta love his enthusiasm, I suppose.

This week and next he's playing stay at home Daddy as he's a teacher and his school gets a 2 week break for the holidays. I called him yesterday afternoon as I was headed for my car to come home, and he informed me they had gone shopping that day and bought a few things for me for Christmas. My first thought was mild panic, as I have to work all week and we had agreed to only do stocking stuffers and not actual gifts, so instantly I realized that *I* now needed to go get *him* something as well. And just where was I going to find time to do that??

My second thought was that I hoped he hadn't bought me boots, since I've been telling him for weeks that all I want for Christmas is some black knee-high boots. And being the practical person I am, I realized there was not much chance I was getting those as a gift, so I'd taken it upon myself to buy some online just that morning.

My THIRD and most excited thought was, "YAY! A surprise!!!" I love surprises. Genuinely, completely, 110% love being surprised. I really didn't care if all he bought me was some chapstick or a coffee mug...I just like the anticipation of getting something unexpected.

So when I got home, I walked in the door and Luca, bright eyed and amped up, came running over to me all squiggles and mischeif. It seems she inherited the inability to secret-keep from her Dad, because immediately she began to tell me something about how they bought me a 'box' of some sort. I couldn't understand all she was saying because it was being said in toddler talk, and I didn't WANT to understand it because I knew it would ruin the surprise for me, so I quickly said to her, "Oh, honey! I don't think you're supposed to tell me what you bought!"

"But Mama we got you a mumbletoddlertalk BOX!"
"Oh no, sweetie! I think it's supposed to be a SURPRISE! A SECRET between you and Daddy!"
"No, Mama. NO! We got you a shmisherblahblahtoddlertalk BOX!"
(laughing now at her persistence) "Ok sweetie. But I don't think you should be telling Mommy this. I think you and Daddy bought something for Mommy for Christmas, so it's supposed to be YOUR secret until then."

I managed to distract her for a minute, and then looked over and noticed a bag on the floor next to a new outdoor rug. Pointing to the rug, I asked Darrick if he'd bought that while he was out shopping. He turned to look and realized the bag contained something else for me, and said, "Oh shoot, you didn't see that did you?"

"Nope." I replied.
"Dat? Dat's your PANTS Mama! We got you PANTS!"
"Oh, Honey, I think that was supposed to be a secret too!" I replied.

Suddenly, her lower lip began to tremble, her eyes began to fill with tears, and she sobbed, "No MAMA!"

"Sweetie, it's ok," I assured her. "Mama's not mad, but I think that you are supposed to keep what you bought Mommy a secret."

And then she came running, head hanging low, little body wracked with sobs, and fell into my lap. I rubbed her back and told he it was ok and Mommy wasn't mad at her.

"But I just wanna tellllllllll you," she sobbed through fat tears, "We got you paaaaaanttttttttttttts!"