Father’s Day was Monday
Isabel says the same thing to Rick every morning: “Happy Father’s Day, Daddy! I hope you catch your train!” Last month every day was Mother’s Day … or Father’s Day or Zach’s Day. She didn’t want anyone to feel left out. But now, it’s all about Daddy. It started on Monday.
Once upon a time, I could take the kids shopping and no one was the wiser. I even took them with me to buy their own Christmas gifts. They didn’t remember. By the time we returned home, all was forgotten. Such is not the case any longer. On Monday the kids and I went to get a Father’s Day gift for Rick. Isabel was thrilled! She worked all afternoon making a special map and card for him. (A map because she is convinced everyone loves Dora as much as she does.) She helped me wrap the presents and then hide them in Mommy’s scrapbook closet.
The gifts were out of site, but definitely not out of mind. She kept talking about them. “Daddy will be so happy to get his gifts when he comes home!” I tried explaining that Father’s Day wasn’t until Sunday, so we would have to wait to give him his gifts. He excitement never waned.
“Isabel, the presents are a surprise. We have to keep them a secret from Daddy. Shhhhhh … don’t tell him, okay?”
Whispered as quietly as a three-year-old can manage: “Okay, Mommy. I won’t tell. Shhhh, Zach. Don’t tell Daddy!”
A few hours later Rick came home. The traditional Daddy’s-home-celebration commenced with our two tots jumping and screaming and hugging and laughing. Then I heard in a crisp voice: “Daddy, we have a present for you! It’s downstairs!”
Rick smiled and cast a glance my way. “Oh really?”
“Yeah! We went to the golf store!! It’s a secret. Do you want to see?”
So, we celebrated Father’s Day on Monday. The moral of the story: three-year-olds cannot keep secrets. Nor can they wait for suprises. But, boy, do they love their daddies.
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I love the picture. I think we have that same princess dress at my house.
I hate to tell you this, but 4.5 year olds can’t keep secrets either. 6 almost 7 year olds do okay though.
ryc: Nope, I don’t live in NY. I’m in Nebraska. But I wish I lived in NY!!
My husband read this post with me, and he said, “I remember that!” He said that now he’s lucky if he sees them at all after he comes home, especially our sixteen-year-old girl, who is rarely home herself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not being discouraging, we have good kids, we are so blessed–but tell Rick to DRINK IT ALL IN!! It’s an incredibly joyful but fleeting time of life. Good memories are made here! : ) (That photo is priceless, like all your photos!)
awwww this is such a sweet story, I love the photo too. and keeping secrets, well, this is even hard for me to do, I recently returned for a holiday and as the norm I always return with gifts. I purchased a couple of really nice hand bags made from the Banana tree, I thought I would keep them for my girls for their next birthday, however after giving them all the little gifts I could not wait so I gave them the secret bags.Well, they just loved them so I was kind of happy I didn’t hold back and wait for them to have their secret gifts.
Awwww … what a sweet story!