the chocolate thief

I woke up to a quiet house. I figured it was sometime between 8:30 and 9. I lay in bed, looking at the blue sky out my window and knowing full well it was deceiving me. (It was -9 degrees outside.) I thought about the day - what I wanted to accomplish, Ana's play date this afternoon, etc. I turned over and looked at the clock: 8:40. I opened the computer and began my morning ritual of checking the blogosphere.

At some point I heard a door open, and little person head down the stairs. Then back up the stairs. Then a door closed. I assumed it was Ana. Every once in a while she plays in her room in the morning. At about 9 I went downstairs to eat breakfast. Then I headed to Ana's room. She looked like she was just waking up. We talked about the day and headed downstairs to find her "girl toys" to get out for her friend. We found her dishes, her ponies and her dolls. Then she curled up next to me and we read a story.

Right as I closed "If You Give a Pig a Pancake," Jack's door opened. He walked down the stairs. He had dark something all over his face.

Is it blood? I thought.

I took a closer look and started to laugh.

In one hand he held a little box. It was Ana's box and up until this morning it had 6 or 7 dark chocolate mini hershey bars inside. In his other hand was 3 of the little bars.



I guess he was my morning stroller. I figure he went downstairs looking for us, saw the box sitting on the table, and carried it back up to his room to enjoy the chocolate in peace.