Easter

Holidays make me so giddy now. It's weird. I guess my lack of enthusiasm stemmed from young adult aloofness. But, my family always came together at holidays and made it fun for us, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me at all that I wanna do the same for the chiquita. 

Our Easter came in three parts this year.

Part 1:

The first was a neighborhood celebration in Stepford, Bunnypalooza. It sounded like a fun idea and the girlie was so very excited. View the excitement:

Running to the park to see the Easter Bunny (which to my knowledge, she has no real concept of).

I actually love our community and I'm thankful that there are events like this. However, I always come away a little (a lot) disappointed. Some insight:

The little one ran from the car (a block away), and into the event field, filled with gusto. There was a crowd, and jumpy castle things, and people she knew, and tents!, oh tents!, and more jumpy castles and-- yes, excitement. 

I--as a mother, looked past the bright and shiny, and saw the crowds, and the lines. I tried to steer Leeloo towards the open craft tent - but no, she saw the great big (with slide and climbing log) bounce house.

"That mommy!"

So we went into line. And we waited. And she ran about. And came back and we waited. And she ran to the front of the line and I coaxed her back and we waited. And she tried to pull me to the front of the line, but I convinced her to hold our ground, and we waited. And about 20 minutes later (two toddler lifetimes), we were next. 

This was a big bouncy castle, like the penthouse version. I sized up all the kids in front of us and they looked around Leeloo's size, so I felt ok about it. She pulled off her socks and shoes and clambered up the bouncy slope into the abyss. 

This is where my mommy vision went into 5 second slow motion cycle: She's in...she's smiling...she's balancing...I can jockey for position and see her clearly...she looks unsure...she sees me...she smiles...she's balancing... she's jumping!...she's giggling!...she's so happy...she's - what?

There was a blur of blond and then a grunt. Leeloo was down and an 8-yr old little girl pushed herself up off of her and bounced away. My girlie is tough. She has brothers that knock her about constantly so she can take a whollup. This time, she froze, assessed the damage, made eye contact with me and said "ow, mami, ow head", then started to cry. She made her way out, wailing. I held her and moved away from the castle, trying to soothe her, but really it just made her even more upset. She was holding her head in pain but so sad that she wasn't back in  the castle. I suppose I should be grateful for her resolve, but at that point I was not gonna shove her back into the melee. More upset.

Eventually (after ten minutes or so of her crying and cuddling and running back to the line and cuddling and pleading for more), I bribed her with a cookie. 

The egg hunt for 1-2 year olds happened simultaneous to her meltdown. So once I calmed her down they were on to the 3-5 year hunt. The hunt was in a small fenced yard--maybe 50'x50'--with only one side opened. There was no real "hiding" of the eggs, just groups lying on the ground. In front of the one open side there were parent and kids and older siblings lined up ready to go. When they finally gave the hunt order it was chaos. At first we couldn't get passed the parents standing and watching, the we couldn't make it around the kids getting the eggs, so in desperation I picked the girlie up and like a running back tried to take her to our goal--an untouched egg-filled corner. With great maneuvering we got there, but as soon as I set her down the eggs were gone, mostly picked up by older siblings who were "helping". We left with an empty basket.

After that I decided to abandon Bunnypalooza and head down towards the playground. Eventually all her little friends made it there and she had a great time with them, but it took an hour or so of me watching them to let the frustration subside.

Part 2:

The second egg hunt we attended was much smaller. The day before Easter our complex decided to do there own little hunt. We bounded down and waited for the doors to open.

Waiting with Wawa.

When we got in, Ripley got to meet an Easter bunny (I will not say "the" Easter bunny because the costume was one of the creepiest I've ever seen).

After meeting creepy bunny she had to wait again. I'm all about teaching my daughter patience - but seriously, there is only so much you can ask a 2 year old to endure.

The second egg hunt happened in a much smaller area. But the chiquita was still no match for the older kids. Her abuelita and I managed to steer her towards one egg but that was all. Luckily she didn't really think that she was missing anything. Especially since the hunt was at the pool. I let her put her feet in, but she was all in (fully dressed), in minutes. Time to start swim lessons again!

Part 3:

Easter Sunday.

The day started with her basket:

Contents: Coloring books, a birdhouse, box full of "jewels" and small little things.

Her first jewelry box.

Best matchbox car ever.

Grandpa joined us for Easter morning.

After eggs we got dressed and put all our things together to head to the park where we invited all her friends for a picnic. All week my mom and I worked to make small gifts for the kids. We ended up with super cute chickies and sock bunnies. 

Little felt chicks in eggs. 

Sock bunnies from my own recycled socks.

Ripley loves her little bunny.

The park was wonderful. We have a small circle of families that we do a lot of things with. All of our kids are the same ages and they see each other many times throughout the week. The kids play so well together and the parents are all very nice and genuine. We are lucky to have a good circle.

Our picnic was fairly simple. We had snacks, bubbles, little paper airplanes, sidewalk chalk, and our own egg hunt. The night before I went out and bought more eggs, determined that the kids would not be left wanting. I admit now that I went a little overboard, and I'm ok with it.

Michaels had the best bubble wand.

Flying a paper kite with her Uncle.

Happy memories.

Hippity Hoppity

I never realized that I was a holiday sort of gal. Turns out I am. I love celebrating special days with the chiquita. It's so much fun to see her experience all of these things for the first time. Everything is so brand new for her and her excitement seeps into me.

Easter was so much fun this year. Last year Leeloo was too little to do anything more than bunny ears. This year she was the perfect age to enjoy all the festivities.

She's only 15 months, but she loves to be around older kids. Just before Easter we got invited to a craft play date. All the other girls were around two years old, but Leeloo did a great job of keeping up with them. She painted for the first time, she built a little foam Easter bunny and she ate lunch at the big kids table with all of them!

We used marshmallows instead of paintbrushes perfect for little fingers!

Reading with Miss Ella - the hostess of the day.

Eating with the big girls - she used her fork and everything!

On Saturday we headed to Poinsettia Park for the Carlsbad Easter Eggstravaganza. Although most of the activities were geared towards older kids, the chiquita loved watching all the people and running around in the grass. Now that she's mobile we can't hold her still!

Excited to have a pinwheel and already one bow short (we always lose at least one ribbon!)

She liked the eggs at first, but she loved them when she realized there were prizes inside!

Luckily for us she didn't notice that we traded out the candy for cheddar bunnies and graham crackers. 

She loved running through the drying paintings (until mami realized they were still wet)

This is as close as she got to the Easter bunny. She was all smiles, but very cautious.

We bought her first Easter basket this year. We filled it with hand puppets, a stuffed bunny, a new big girl cup, a pinwheel, a book and a rubber ducky. I didn't know if she'd even notice it, but she woke up and right away pointed to it from across the room. So far the pinwheel and the book are the biggest hits.

Books with moving parts are big right now. 

After breakfast we headed to our neighborhood park to meet Leeloo's little friends for an egg hunt. We have been lucky to find a group of kids her age that live nearby. Everyday we try to head down to the park so she can tromp around with them.
I filled eggs with bunny crackers, grahams, animal cookies and rubber duckies for the kiddos to find. The chickadee was more interested in pine cones and snacks than Easter egg hunting, but the other kids scooped them up. Leeloo ran in the grass and played under the parachute and was ready for a super nap by the time we were finished.

Covered in strawberries!

After an extra long nap we headed to the chica's godparent's house where she discovered their bookshelf and the piano. We finished the night by singing and dancing together .

Helping her Nina Lorena with the higher notes.

Looking at a Hawaii coffee table book with her Nino David.

So excited that she can climb onto the patio furniture.

I missed the kiss, but she was being especially sweet to baby Daniel.

All in all it was an excellent holiday. I'm already excited about the next one, what is it? Memorial Day?

Hippity Hoppity

It's official. I'm that guy. Er, mama. It's Easter and I put chiquita in bunny ears. It had to be done. When I saw those ears weeks ago (oh Target dollar bin, how you call my name), I had this deep visceral need to get them. It didn't matter if they were too big, or if she is too young to enjoy looking like a baby bunny princess, they were a must.

Like most people in this era, I am somewhat vain. I take lots of pics of myself and share them on the interwebs. I have no rational behind this need to document my life other than I enjoy pics and words. Since the little one came along all of that documentation has shifted to her. My iPhoto is packed with daily pics of the giggly drool. I can't help it, she's too cute (says the biased mommy)!

Happy Easter/Passover/Spring!