Busted

After emptying the dishwasher this morning, I stepped into the dining room, where the kids were practicing letters at the table (it's almost back-to-school time!). There, I was hit with a barrage of most unexpected questions.

"Mama, what is the Easter Bunny really?" our girl asked.

"What do you mean?" I said.

That's when Mr. Inquisitive piped in. "I think it's the mommies and the daddies, and they sneak out at night (there was cartoonish tiptoeing pantomimed here), get the treats, and sneak back in," he said.

"Hmmm," I said, not really prepared for this conversation in early August. "What's got you thinking about that?"

"Well, it's like a magician does magic TRICKS and not real magic, Daddy told me once," our boy said. "And sometimes they make a rabbit come out of a hat. But I think that really, the rabbit is just hidden down in the bottom of the hat (again, cartoonish crouching), and there's a lid over it or something. And then the magician says, 'Close your eyes!' And then he throws the lid off to the side or something and says, 'Open your eyes!' and then the rabbit hops out."

"And what does all that have to do with Easter?" I asked.

"It's just an example of how bunnies aren't magic," he said. Hard to argue with that, so I punted instead.

"Well," I said, "I think we should talk about this again when it's closer to Easter." And then I gracefully exited, stage left. Smooth.