Keeping a secret

Grammy put money in our home account not only for a nice anniversary dinner out (thank you...it was fantastic) but also for a birthday cake. She suggested that Jan get it at the Alice (as in Alice in Wonderland) cake shop which we used to go past on our way to hoikuen. Jolon has always been fascinated by it and in fact the only other time he's had anything from there was when we bought Jan (one piece of) cake on his birthday. 2 days before my birthday I noticed Jan and Jolon were whispering about something and when I asked what, Jan said "baseball." Jolon looked very confused....more whispers and then Jolon laughed and concurred that they were talking about baseball. Apparently Jolon really enjoyed keeping the secret, although at times nearly let it slip. Once in fact, as they were on their way to run some errands, Jolon loudly said, "Daddy, don't forget about the cake!" Jan pointed at me with a "shhhhhh," and Jolon clapped his hands over his mouth and looked horrified. He actually looked really upset, like he wished he could just do anything to take the words back. Jan had to keep reassuring him that it was ok, I probably hadn't heard. He picked out the cake, white cream frosting with strawberries, and he chose the message all by himself. Well, actually his first choice was just, "Mommy," until Jan suggested he think of something a little longer. He was so proud to show it to me. Later when Jan was talking about how well he did keeping the secret, he agreed he'd done a good job but he remembered and mentioned how one time he'd said the word, "cake," too loudly. Hitomi was over that night for a lesson and she stayed for a little while after we'd gone to dinner, but Suzie was the real babysitter. We went out from 8 until 10 and poor Kellan never went to sleep. Regardless, we had a great meal and a lovely time just the two of us.