I may or may not have a cabinet way up high somewhere that is stashed with things I don’t want to share. Like my Milano cookies and my nice colored pencils. It’s my cabinet and I never open it when someone is around to see because I know the next question I’ll get is, “What’s in there? Can I have some!?”

This is a fun stage of parenting, and I truely love it. The girls are walking now, the boys are almost 4, and Esther starts preschool in one month. Parenthood has changed so much about Brian and I’s life. We are better people because of our kids. But here’s the deal, our kids have a way of taking over everything in our life. It’s good to share. I teach my kids to share. But lately I’ve been finding myself secreting things away. The truth of it is that I am in a short-lived parenting phase I affectionately refer to as: The Secret Mommy-Cabinet Phase. And I love it.

The idea subconsciously came when I organized our toys with storage bins. Each kid has two storage bins designated to their toys and it has helped us keep things clean and organized. Then I started thinking about my things. Where to keep them organized and away from the kids? Obviously not within reach. I considered our bedroom, but there is nothing there that isn’t crawled under, pulled out or investigated in search of a kitty.

Yesterday in the car I secretly transferred a piece of gum from my purse to my pocket for later use. There will be a day when I share my gum (or even dare to eat it in front of them), but since the last two experiences have envolved removing it from hair, I avoid every aspect the gum topic. Which creates a problem when I need some. If they see it or smell it I’m busted. So I sneak it.

Basically I am becoming the head of covert operations in our house. Another tag line I can put on my resume if I apply somewhere.