Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Secret is Out!

Our house has lots of rooms.  Rooms for cooking, eating, doing laundry, sleeping (and other assorted activities!), tool stash, an office, a few bathrooms...and The Secret Room.


Yeah - that's right.  Our house has a secret room.  And before any of you start wondering what is happening in The Secret Room....no....there are no indoor 'tomatoes' or anything like that happening in there.  Its just a room where there is an abundant stash of unopened toys....and a huge chest freezer.


And I mean a ton of toys.  Many, many toys.  So many toys that Toys 'R Us calls me when they run out of inventory. Yeah boys and girls - its a real scene in that room....let me tell ya!  Why are there so many toys stashed away?  My wife used to buy a lot of stuff when it was on sale....or stuff for kids party's....or stuff that Nicholas would get when he was old enough.  Needless to say - she bought a lot of stuff.  The only good thing about the secret room is that the inventory is diminishing, and the inflow has nearly stopped.  We have likely given away several thousand dollars worth of brand new toys to various Children's Aid societies - so we feel pretty good about that.


Now....where was I?


Ah yes....the secret room.  Well - the secret is out!


Or rather...my son has now mastered the anti-child device that used to keep him out of there.  He know's what's in there....and he used to get real excited when we would bring him in to cash in his tokens for some new loot.  [Nicholas is on the token system....good behaviour means he gets tokens....and the more tokens he has....the bigger the loot box he can cash it in for.  Sort of like those arcades where you hand in your 8 tickets for some crappy plastic toy.....or 8,000 tickets for a slight larger crappy plastic toy].


The other day a little boy with a huge smile on his face comes cruising through the living room with a new box of Lego.  He's happily humming to himself - and proceeds to plop himself down on the carpet to commence playing with his latest acquisition.  He doesn't seem to get that if you're gonna pinch stuff....that it likely isn't a great idea to sit down and start playing with the stuff in front of the people most likely to say something about it.  Guile isn't his thing.


"Ummmm  Nicholas?"


"Yes Mommy?"


"Where did you get that toy?"


"Oh.....you know........"


"Actually no....I don't.  Where did you get it?"


"I got it from the secret room!"


"How did you get in there?"


"Through the door."


"The door was left open?"


"Nope.  I opened it myself.  I'm a big boy - I can do that you know!"


I left the room at this point....I was trying not to laugh, and undermine what my wife was trying to do.


"Nicholas sweetie....you know the secret room is for Mommy and Daddy....and you can only go in when you're with one of us."


"Yeah - I know all that."


"So....why did you go in then?"


"To get this Lego set!  See - isn't it cool?"


"But Nicholas.....there are rules that you need to obey and understand."


"Rules?  I was really good at school this week - and I felt like rewarding myself!"


[At this point...there is a lot of laughter coming from the kitchen]


"Pipe down in there!!!"


"Now Nickels....you understand that we would prefer that you not go in there".  [We're hiding stuff from Santa in there as well....as if he could tell the difference between old loot - and loot that is about to be wrapped]


"I know - but I needed a new toy.  And look!  Here it is!!!  There's no need to get upset Mommy.  I only took one....and I didn't make a mess at all.  So it's really ok."


I hear a sigh....


"Ok Nicholas...you can have that set - but stay out from now on, or else Daddy will tell Santa!"


[Why am I the heavy?  It isn't a role I play very well!]


"Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Mommy"


"Thank you for listening Nickels.....I think"


It is around this time I hear the words:


"Hey Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!  You need to come here and help my put together this Lego set."


"Right on dude.....I'm totally there with ya!"


My wife rolls her eyes....she's living with two children it would seem - one is 7....the other is 37.


And besides - Daddy wanted to play with that set anyways....  :)

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