more secrets tomorrow

does anyone else have really slow internet right now? is it because of the economy?

anyhow...

there is something going on with the raising of my niece that i do not agree with. at times like this, an aunt has no other option but to bypass the parents and go straight to the child to rectify the situation.

tonight i called in the middle of story time and asked to speak with sophia. i said i needed to talk to her about, 'secret aunt stuff,' and my sister foolishly gave her the phone. ha! amateur!

sophie was really excited about the prospect of secret telling, more so than i thought she would be. she took the phone and i heard her say to herself, "ok, i've got to go far away so no one hears this."

with privacy guaranteed, i told my precious lamb my secret, and let me tell you, she was over the moon. i am officially the favorite aunt -- hands down. stop trying squints, it's o-vah.

we shared some giggles, and i basked in the gooey, innocent sweetness of this shared moment with my cognitively developing niece. it was all so magical...

and then she asked for more secrets.

so i told her i was sending her something in the mail, and she got really excited again, and told me that i could send a card to her brother and one to her sister as well, but to only put a present in her card.

and we giggled and i basked in even more sweetness from another shared moment.

then she asked for more secrets.

and she kept asking, and asking, and asking, and i tried to think of exciting things that a 6 year old would want to hear, but i could not for the life of me think of a single appropriate (sometimes auntie cries herself to sleep!) secret from my own life, so i decided to pillage the years and years i spent with her mother for material. after all, the whole secret conversation started because of her, so it's only fair, right?

so i said, "do you want to know a secret about your MOM?!", and she said, "YEAH!"

"well, um....er, well...one time, when she was younger...(light bulb!) she died her hair with kool-aid!"

and that was all i could think of, but it did the trick. it may not seem like a big deal to you, but let me tell you, it caused quite the scan-dal in our household. sophie naturally wanted to know what grandma and papa said -- grandma: "WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR?!?!" -- then she went dancing back to story time to tell everyone that one time, mom put "kuh-kool-aid" in her hair.

then she asked for more secrets.

and i realized that i had opened a can of worms, but by golly, i wanted more of that gooey sweetness, so i told her i'd think of some more and call her back tomorrow.

when she handed the phone back to her mother, i'm told that she sang out, "more secrets tomorrow!" and did a little dance before she ran off.

the pressure is on.

so, basically, i'm writing this post to let you know that i'm about to sell you up the river, because, come on, i have to stay the favorite aunt.