“So, Mama,” Raven asked the night before. It was past her bedtime but she said she couldn’t sleep because she was too excited for the next day. “If the Easter Bunny isn’t really real, then does that mean that you just collab with the Easter Bunny for my treasure hunts?”

“Yep,” I replied. “I collab with the Easter Bunny to make it all happen, baby!”

No cap.

Kids and their lingo these days. I love it! I like learning all these skibidi sigma alpha terms even if I have to google what they mean and even then, their usage is still vague as because, bruh!

Anyways, she’s getting older but not that old as to want to discontinue our little Easter tradition. Five years strong now. I’m actually quite proud of myself for following through year after year and having the kind of consistency that I normally lack on a day to day basis.

But this year, I made her jump a little hoop, though. Not to make her earn a treasure hunt so much as to qualify for the experience.

She had to read and finish one book. Just one. I’m not that cruel. But it had to be an intermediate level book. A chapter book, at least. Easy, but not too easy.

She chose The Railway Kitten by Hollie Webb. Brought it with her in vacation care last Thursday and proudly declared that she finished it while waiting for me to pick her up from work.

The ball was back in my court.

I wanted for all of us to dress up. Something fun and quirky. I wanted to go Cyndi Lauper with my makeup, only to realise all my palettes lean towards browns and boring. At least I made up for it with my polka dot dress and fish net stockings. Meanwhile, Jeff took the opportunity to let his gayness shine with a white slip he found — and stretched! — in my closet. It was quite funny and we were both laughing with how he looked as he adjusted the skirt this way and that to hide all the, um, extra bits. As if his tummy wasn’t an issue enough.

That’s one of the things I love about Jeff. He’s pretty game. And all these years, he has been Raven’s treasure hunt buddy, helping her through the clues but oftentimes getting too excited to a point where he becomes the main character energy and Raven has to put him back in his place as I watch the sibling rivalry unfold before me.

Told you I got two kids.

The maths problems and riddle I gave her were a breeze. So were the clues. I really gotta up the ante next time. A mental note I had already scribbled in my brain. But this year, one of her favourite challenges was the Lego one. It’s been a while since she built a Lego set from the box and I congratulated myself (again) for such a brilliant idea because five years in a row and I was seriously running out of fresh ideas.

Jeff sweetened the deal: if she could solve it in 15 minutes, she gets 50 bucks.

The game was definitely on!

She hustled it in 15 minutes and 8 seconds.

Of course, this year’s pinata was the icing on the cake. One of those Kmart ones I stuffed with Asian lollies that also hid the last clue to her ultimate prize.

Took a bloody screwdriver to cut through the damn pinata and even then, it was indestructible! Taking hit after hit after hit, that cardboard pinata was tougher than Jeff’s traumas. Talk about good quality!

In the end, when the string that it was attached to gave up and the pinata was still as good as new, Jeff ripped it open with his bare hands and showered Raven with packets and packets of strawberry popping lollies.

As per the last clue, her final prize was in the dishwasher: A Pets Alive Smitten Kitten she named Whiskers, in honour of the cat character in the book she read to qualify for another fun round of our yearly Easter treasure hunt.

Until next year again, maybe.

For now, I’m simply loving and enjoying my daughter in this stage in her life where she’s still just a kid, you know. In time she will grow up but in this very moment, I’m in no hurry.

*Raven at 8 years old