Greg and Julia were somewhere else in the house the other day when Allie said, "Mom, I need to tell you something. And I don't want you to tell Daddy and I don't want you to tell Karina (our daycare provider)." She was intensely serious.

She said, "Come here and I'll tell you. OK, bend down and give me your secret ear." So I bent down next to her and she moved my hair aside to whisper in my ear.

I could hardly wait. She gave me a very serious look and said, "OK, mom, now you can't tell anyone." I said, OK.

And Allie said, "Mom, I'm on a secret mission."

I almost looked around for M. She really gave me pause for a minute. Then she went on to say, "Sabrina and I hid in the closet to make plans, and I didn't want to go because it was really dark, but we had to figure out the mission," and I felt better.

My daughter wants to be a spy. I've been watching too much James Bond lately, obviously.