Is there a person in there?

March 16, 2008 - Sunday

This morning, we were waiting to see the Easter bunny. In line, many families with pretty little children were all dressed up in their fancy duds to sit on the lap of he who will bring them treats in a basket while they slumber. First off, my children were not in fancy gear...this Easter bunny thing was an afterthought; my main interest in being at the mall was to buy more pants for Emily since she outgrows them every other week. So, as you can tell, we were kind of already standing out like a sore thumb. Well, maybe not like a sore thumb...more like an itchy thumb. We were noticeably underdressed, but not painfully underdressed. Not that this really matters, but I did want to set the scene.

Then, whammo! Emily asks a question I have been dreading..."Is there a person in there? In the bunny? That huge bunny would not even fit in our house!" Since she chose to semi-scream this question, all of the moms, dads, and kids in line quickly turned to stare at us, the underdressed family...they were clearly awaiting my response as much as she was. Way to put me on the spot, little girl.

As you can imagine, this question poses quite the conundrum. She is definitely old enough to tell the difference between real and fake...and a 7 foot tall fuzzy bunny with gigantic plastic eyes definitely falls in the fake-o category. What’s a mother to do? I am certainly not going to lie straight to her face...she would know that I was either a. lying, or b. stupid. We can’t have that. I am sure she will think I am an idiot for the majority of her teenage years, and I am not in a hurry to speed up this process. Plus, we have a BIG rule in our house about lying, and I am not about to sit on time out! On the other hand, how can I burst the bubble of all the other children in line by telling the truth.

So, what was my response?....a big old mumble. Yes, I simply mumbled..something like "Well, theres sammeremen and the bunny pershhshsafluies. Hey, LOOK! They give you bunny ears after you get your picture taken COOL!" I don’t quite think this strategy will work when the "birds and the bees" discussion rears its ugly head, but it seemed to do the trick today, so I breathed a sigh of relief and went on to answer the 20 million other questions that she had while we were in line. Then, my casually dressed kiddos smiled nicely for the camera and we were on our way.


So, the moral of my story: When in Doubt: Mumble.