until last month, as long as sebastian wasn’t around, i could do pretty much anything i liked at home and know that unless i told magnificent about it, he wouldn’t find out.

and even if sebastian was around, a well timed distraction (movie, sweetie…depending on how much time i needed), could get me confidentiality.

however, those verbal triplets are getting me and others in trouble.

i guess it is my own fault for encouraging them to talk. but really, if they don’t stop making my life difficult and embarrassing me, i will stop reading to them. they have no problem repeating things i would rather they didnt. they bust me. i need to face it (and change my activities accordingly) – i am no longer the sole gatekeeper of information. there are four security leaks in holland’s dam, and i only have one finger to plug up leaks, if you will.

jasper isn’t really a fink, but he is a repeater. so something that might slide by if said once, jasper has to repeat until it sinks into mc’s psyche.

ie: friday.

i had a weakness and consumed a not unsubstantial bag of nibs. let’s blame it on pms. magnificent got home and wondered why i wasn’t overly enthusiastic about going out for dinner. i hemmed and hawed, actually tried distracting him a la sebastian. but then good old jasper trundled along and mentioned, "mummy ate sweeties, daddy." and when mc didn’t respond, he turned up the volume and repeated his statement until magchar looked at me and said, "what did you eat?"

and then i had to tell him.

carys is a finder and revealer of secrets, definitely the first and occasionally the second. in years to come, she will store the sights she discovers up, waiting to trade them in for favours. but for now, she is fast to repeat what her siblings say, or to share with her siblings what she has seen. seb doesn’t so much listen to her, she takes too long to speak, but the others certainly do.

the other day carys came across me filing some shoes away for Christmas. girlie shoes. and i explained they were for a long time for now, to be quiet…and my little girlie-whirlie got up, raced down the hallway calling for sela. shared the news with her and the next thing i know, sela is up to me, arms pumping and shoulders hunched (the way she runs) and interrogating me, "pitty shoes? carwis said pitty shoes?"

sela herself is loud, and no good in the secrets department. life has so much variety and she is just bursting to tell you all about it because it is so exciting and interesting. we were singing the goodnight song tonight and after singing to grandparents, aunts, dora, swiper, boots, diego, sally,  adam, ashley, ellen, baby ella, baby zahlia, tallinn, abby, daddy, chahlie and assorted others, we got to tallulah. suddenly sela held up the songest and declared, "tallulah got time out."

i looked at de, and he confirmed that in the playground tallulah had been given a time out.  sela nodded and kept singing.

she’s like the ticker tape at the bottom of cnn, continually updating you.

i have to say, i look back to the olden days when i could do whatever and not worry about being finked out by three little people with fondness. you would think they would show some gratitude and not bust the one who helped them learn and speak. but then again, dora, the wiggles, bob the builder, and leapfrog tad probably get more credit than i do.

on another topic entirely, jasper is having a tough time doing his poos in the toilet.  we’re encouraging him, but it is frustrating. sunday, he informed his daddy that he needed to do a wee and a poo, so ,c put the blonde beast of burden on the toilet. thespian grunts followed.

where is your poopers, jasper? inquired mcharles, the most loving and patient man i know.

in the toilet, daddy, responded the impish jude, throwing in a few grunts for good measure, so we could get an idea of what a task he was enduring.

charles checked and realised that jasper was not telling the truth.

jasper! he said, quite firmly for him. where is your poopers?

and jasper looked at his dad and said, "it’s in my bum".

well, at least some things can still be hidden.  which around here is a rarity.