Not Babies Anymore

My daughters confessed yesterday. They no longer believe in the Easter Bunny. Or Santa Claus. The Tooth Fairy didn't come up yesterday, but she has in the past....usually when she forgets to show up.

I did what any good mother would do. I lied. I did my best to convince my babies that they were wrong, that these wondrous entities are real. But they set traps for me & I fell in. Head first.

My 9-year-old left a carrot on a plate for the Easter Bunny Saturday night before bed. Sunday morning, before she found her basket, she inspected it. "These teeth marks look suspiciously like Daddy's," she offered it to me for a look.
"Well, I guess the bunny just gnawed it a little. He probably gets a treat at everyone's house."
"Mm-hmm," she says with a tone that tells me I'm not off the hook.

"These bright jelly beans are better than these pastel ones," said my 11-year-old.
"Oh, those are Mike & Ike's. They're awesome," I agreed.
"Busted!! How do you know what brand they are if the Easter Bunny brought them?" she mocked.
"Because I'm a jelly bean connoisseur," I offered. She let that go.

We each got a nail polish in our basket. My older daughter got blue, because I thought the younger one already had blue. My younger daughter got purple, because I wanted the orange. "But purple is my favorite color," my 11 year old moped.
"I thought it was pink? You always say you like pink & orange?" (I didn't buy any pink because we have several already.)
"Then why do you have the orange?" Because orange is one of my favorite colors. Duh.
"I'll share. We can all share." I know we will.
"That doesn't answer my question." She said this with an over-enunciation of each word.

The Easter baskets are too small.

Flip-flops were in the baskets this year. "Dad got jerky instead of flip-flops," moaned my 9-year-old. "We didn't get any jerky."
"You got flip-flops," I reminded. I'm sure the Easter Bunny knows Dad isn't going to wear flip-flops."
"But we all like jerky."
"Not me. I don't like jerky," not since I barfed it out the moving car window when I was preggers.
"My flip-flops are different from yours & Annie's," Alex said to me.
"I'm sure the Easter Bunny didn't notice, just tried to pick a style he thought you'd like that would fit your big feet, " I teased back.
"I can wear yours," she offered.
"Yours are bigger than mine. Yours are 9-10, but mine are 7-8 because your feet are bigger than mine," I tried to dismiss her by scruffing her hair.
"Ha! You're busted!!" They screamed.

The Accused

They tag-teamed me. "You just said you bought her a bigger size."
"No, I said, she got a bigger size." I hope that's what I said.
"Mom, we know you're Santa. We saw the Santa paper in your closet." In our house, only Santa uses Santa paper. Family gifts have other Christmas prints.
(I'm still trying to figure out how we went from the Easter Bunny to Santa without a breath.)
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I feigned ignorance. I saw the roll knocked away from it's hiding spot, 1/2 out of the bag. I picked it up & put it back & hoped it was accidental & they hadn't paid attention. Until now, I hadn't heard a word about it. I loved that my children were so innocent they still believed at 9 & 11 years old despite their friends & cousins telling them there was no such thing.
"You are sooo busted," my Ally taunted me, pointing & laughing.

At this point, my husband tried to intervene. "What were you doing in your mother's closet? When I was a kid, I would never have gone into my parents' closet."
"I was getting shoes...."
"You're supposed to ask me to borrow my shoes, & wait for me to answer yes or no, & get them only if I say you can..."
She gave me the hand. She gave me the hand. She gave me the hand. SHE GAVE ME THE HAND! As in talk to the hand. "Don't change the subject."
Who is this kid?
I walked away. I felt the squeeze. They're growing up too fast.

(The funny thing is, while I do some Christmas shopping, my husband should really get credit for being Santa. He gets the toys. I don't like buying toys. I like buying the clothes, accessories, & unexpected novelties. And I do all the wrapping.)