Not Secret Shopper

I haven't done a very good job of buying presents for Keith's birthday this year. As usual, I found and purchased 90% of his gifts online. I did actually buy one at a store, when I was out and about a few weeks ago, and I was very proud of myself.

I was at Costco and saw the new David Sedaris book out in paperback, and grabbed it for Keith. I was proud of myself for getting something he'd like, but wouldn't be expecting. When I got home, I set about unpacking the groceries. I put the book on the stairs to take up and hide away the next time I ran up. Fast forward a few hours, to when Keith gets home from work and heads upstairs to get changed. I'm in the kitchen (again? still?) and he calls out, "Where'd you get the new David Sedaris book?" I swear under my breath.

I didn't really buy any more presents until the end of last week. When I suddenly realized that I didn't have a whole lot of time left. One of the items I was most excited about was a Cafe Press custom t-shirt with a phrase on it that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone other than me and Keith, but it's not worth going into here. So ANYWAY, I was happy I'd thought about it, and even more excited when it arrived on Monday. Plus, I also got a package from my friend Jen, who lives in Michigan, and just happened to come across a brand new toddler's Cincinnati Bengals snowsuit at a garage sale, and sent it to us for Keith's enjoyment.

By this point, I was getting the sense that many of my online purchases wouldn't be arriving in time for his actual birthday. So I thought Jen's gift was serendipitous; I could wrap it up and put it with Keith's other presents but write "To Eleanor, on Keith's birthday" on the outside. After he opened it, I was obviously going to admit it didn't really come from me, and show him Jen's note. BUT it would be another package on the table. And it would be a package that he didn't know about, as opposed to the book.

But then, Eleanor refused to take her afternoon nap, and I decided we'd go for a run. We were supposed to be back before Keith got home from work, so I wasn't even thinking about the open packages on the living room coffee table. But by the time I got Eleanor changed and fed and ready to go .... you see what's coming. We returned home to Keith's car in the garage and the presents viewed.

So yesterday was his birthday. His iPod headphones with microphone had arrived AND I had actually managed to remember to hide them before he got home. A miracle! So he had three presents to open: the book he already knew about, the t-shirt he'd already seen, and the headphones. (Since he'd already seen the snowsuit for Eleanor, I didn't think there was much point in making him unwrap it.) None of the rest of his presents have arrived yet.

Of course, my theory about this is always that it makes your birthday/Christmas last longer, as long as you keep getting presents! So I'm really doing him a favor. Except, if his birthday lasts for a week, does that mean he's finally older than me? Or does it just mean that I'm old enough to be forgetful.

I would rather blame it on the baby, and never getting more than halfway through a thought before I have to run off and stop Eleanor from pulling the cat's tail, knocking over a glass of water, etc. But surely it will be easier when she's almost 2, right? We'll pretend they're the Terrific Twos!