I’ve never been very interested in April Fool’s Day. It’s always made me feel vaguely uneasy and/or put upon. But now it’s on the radar of the children. The planning began last night at dinner; the two of them young enough still to conspire in front of me, at least at first. Once they realized the need for secrecy, they asked (politely) for me to leave them in the bathroom together to concoct their nefarious plan for trickery. In the end I was back in the loop, since they needed an assist to pull one over on Daddy.
The plot? Shocking their father when he came into their rooms in the morning to get them dressed because, get this, they would already be dressed!! Under the covers! Their excitement over this is still making me smile. I had to wake up early to get their clothes on before J woke up. And I’ll tell you, I now wish April first came everyday. They clocked in at about 7 seconds from dead asleep to completely clothed. Amazing. The only thing standing in the way of a successful surprise is the fact of J’s insomnia. He is almost never asleep at 6 in the morning. Fine father that he is, though, he played possum during the whispered proceedings and did a fine acting job, fooling even me into thinking he was actually asleep. I went downstairs where the glorious shouts of “April Fool!” echoed along with the time-honored sounds of fake parental shock.
The kids sailed down to breakfast, completely satisfied. Even performing their own fake surprise at the forks I had placed beside their cereal bowls–the only April Foolish thing mommy could come up with before having coffee. Har de har har.
