Greg finally did it. He surprised me! Greg loves to surprise me. Rather, he would love to surprise me--if I would let him. Unfortunately, I hate surprises. Greg gets so excited about his surprises that he can barely contain himself. Which means he is easy to crack. Which I do, since I don't like surprises.
One morning last week Greg took David and Mary out for a morning of Mommy-birthday-prep errands. Upon their return, David came rushing in the door, arms overflowing with flowers, Tinkerbell wrapping paper, and Hello Kitty napkins, yelling, "Mommy, it's your birthday now!" (Unfortunately, my birthday was still several days away, which David was deeply disappointed to learn.) Before David got too excited about sharing with me their adventures of the morning, Greg intervened to remind him, "David, remember we talked about what a secret is? Shh . . . don't tell Mommy the secret."
Of course, five minutes later, when Greg was in the other room, I set to work interrogating my three-year-old. "David, where did you go with Daddy?" "Go Target." "What did you buy for Mommy?" (I'm heartless, I know.) "Buy Mommy a white bus!" Huh? "You bought Mommy a white bus?" "A white bus!" Whatever. That didn't make any sense, but he clearly believed it was a white bus. I figured it must be something that could look like a white bus. Maybe a white toaster or bread maker? But Greg wouldn't surprise me with an appliance for my birthday--he knows better than that. Even if it were a toy (why?), I have the toy aisles at Target memorized, and there are no white buses. Then there was the whole issue that David could be saying what sounds like "white bus," but mean something entirely different. I was baffled. I considered dragging the kid to Target and having him point out the "white bus," but I decided that would be going too far. For once, I just accepted that I was going to have to be surprised.
For several days David repeatedly talked about the "white bus," asking where it was and telling me it was for my birthday party. I couldn't wait until it was my birthday so I could finally learn what the "white bus" really was! When it was time to open presents, all wrapped nicely in the Tinkerbell paper David had picked out (the Hello Kitty plates and napkins were Greg's pick--he vetoed David's Spiderman choice--because he knows I have a soft girly spot in my heart for Hello Kitty), you bet I went straight for the present from David and Mary. I knew the present from Greg was the camera, so I figured the one from David and Mary was the "white bus."
And guess what it was. A white bus!
In time David will learn what makes the white bus so cool.
