The Sneaky Plan
10:00 Snack

For three days, there was a lone chocolate chip cookie in a box on the edge of my kitchen counter. Every time I moved the box to the back of the counter, my daughter got mad and demanded that I move it back.
“Mommy! You have to put the cookie here where I can reach it so I can do my sneaky plan!”
“Oh?” I asked. “What’s your sneaky plan?”
With her hands clasped under her chin, she whispered that she and her stuffed cat, Flip, were going to sneak into the kitchen at 12 a.m. to eat the cookie for a midnight snack.
“Okay,” I said. “But remember, you’re not allowed to have food in your room.”
“I know. I’m gonna eat it at the table. That’s part of my secret plan. He he he.”
I kept the cookie box on the edge of the counter, curious to see if she’d ever actually do it.
Unfortunately for her, she kept falling asleep way before midnight. Every morning after she woke up and saw the cookie on the counter, she said, “Oh, man! I forgot to do my sneaky plan. Again!”
She was pretty broken up about it, so last night when I heard her little feet walk into the kitchen, I didn’t interfere with the execution of her mission. She dashed over to the stove and exclaimed, “10:04! Well, it’s not midnight, but I will do my sneaky plan, anyway. He he he.”
I heard a drawer open as she got out a bowl, then came the sound of crunching plastic as she struggled to open the cookie box. A few seconds later, I watched from my seat on the couch as she climbed into a kitchen chair and put the cookie on the table in front of herself. She stole a glance at me over her shoulder. “I’m doing my sneaky plan now!” she announced
She sat in the chair, swinging her feet, as she and Flip took turns nibbling the cookie. Before she headed back to her room, she giggled and said, “Yes! I finally did my sneaky plan!”
I hope she’s always this good at being sneaky.
