Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

Preparing for Easter this year with a 3-year old took on a whole new meaning. I knew she would be bombarded with Easter bunny paraphenalia, baskets, and loads of chocolate bunnies and peeps. But what does it all mean!!!??

First, I bought her many books about the meaning of Easter. God Gave us Easter, The Bernstein Bear’s Easter, and Veggie Tales Easter. And she read them and GOT IT. “Jesus died for me and He came back; God loves you!” Pretty much she gets the concept of Him dying and coming back to life to forgive us for good. So it was with this message that we stuffed eggs with three jelly beans, band-aid, a verse. Three jelly beans= on the third day he came back to life; the band-aid=he heals our wounds and forgives us. Pretty cool!
Off we went to deliver baskets to our friends: Susan and Jason, John and Marsha, Denise and Petro, Amy and Jack, and Robert and Jennie….just to name a few.

It was time to color some eggs with mama, and this was truly a hit because Tatum got to dunk. Something about the whole immersion thing that just is exhilarating! Time to decorate. So, unfortunately, I bought jumbo eggs, so nothing fit around their large circumferences. Lesson learned.

Tatum spent time just praising the Lord and singing her heart out. She never tires of this, this little animated bunny of mine.

We enjoyed spending time with Morgan and Nyla and Kelly later on. My goodness these three lovelies make my heart sing.  Or maybe bounce!Happy Easter!!!

50 colorful bears. 5 matching cups. This is all it takes to have a big bear party while learning math.

First, she instantly sorted the bears into the correct colored cups.

Then we counted them. 5 times. 

Definitely a party now!  She wanted to offer me any color bear I wanted and then some. Leave it to Tatum to make it into a festive event!

On the way home from school today, Tatum asked me if we could go swimming. I mentioned we had music class and she burst into tears. Now, I know she loves music, and seeing her get this torn up over missing swimming was over the top. Yes, she is quite animated, but something was amiss. Within two seconds, I looked back and she was snoozing. Ahhhh…that was it. Tired and acting a bit like she was wearing cranky pants.

I  took her inside to make her lunch, and she decided to just finish her nap in from of the front door on that lovely door mat which I’m sure was the dirtiest flooring in the house. Her baba did not even get touched.

By the way, this is her usual position to sleep: Fingers inserted in the mouth, baby in arm, booty up in the air.
Lucky girl; I want to be in her shoes some days and just fall asleep anywhere!

Easter is upon us and so is the opportunity to learn about the famous bunny who brings us baskets full of goodies. I’ve been attempting to teach Tatum about who is this famous bunny along with how it plays into the resurrection. I don’t want to take out the ‘fun’ of it all, but I do want her to understand WHY the whole darn thing exists! Just like Santa, we keep it all in perspective. So, I took her to the Easter bunny puppet show at our favorite Puppet Theater in downtown Phoenix. She couldn’t wait!
More importantly, it was a day after her big flu, so she was definitely ready to  be well and wear her new purple flip-flops to boot. (hey, she’s a girl, and it’s all about the shoes, right!?)

So we arrived to the theater right on time..

Got our seats…

And we proceeded to watch the show. The premise was that Sally, a little girl in Lost Canyon, AZ, was writing a letter to the Easter Bunny saying that she had NEVER gotten an Easter basket before. She did live in the boonies of AZ, so he must have forgotten her. The turtle mailman went to deliver the letter to the Easter Bunny, and he enlisted the help of Jack Rabbit, the cousin. Through the delivering of the basket, the bad guy, the Bobcat, stole the basket and then Jack was to recreate this nice basket from scratch. He enlisted his prairie dog and roadrunner friends, and they made lemonade out of lemons, making a whole new BETTER homemade basket for Sally. Jack went to deliver it to Sally, and the bobcat showed up again to steal it! Jack outran the little devilly bobcat as he was stuck by a cactus. Sally got her basket and all was happy on the Lost Canyon front.

Tot got to meet the puppets, but more importantly she waited her turn patiently while the other children stormed the puppets with gusto. Her patience paid off as she got a personal picture with Jack and the prairie dog. Kindness always wins..

We always have so much fun there! With no nap today, and our fun lasting all day, we ended with a swim and some fro yo.

More to come on our lessons about Easter… Stay tuned!

She knows enough to tell me that she felt terrible today. Even her “Artie Dootie Doo” shirt didn’t seem to help. Blah, mommy!

The prior evening, she woke me up countless times for various requests. “Mommy, the machine is too loud; mommy, my diffuser turned off; mommy, where is my baby; mommy, you forgot to do my nose; mommy”….NO!!!!!! (I would think). So after realizing she felt like a hot pocket, we spent the morning at the doctor. The waiting room was packed with coughing and sniffly kiddos. She told the nurse, “I’m drinking my water.” (cute!)

The nurse swabbed her nose, and when the doctor entered, he share that she tested positive for the flu. With a 102 degree temperature, I knew something was wrong. So….the gym was out of the question; the puppet show was  a no; play dates…nope. Plan B? MOVIES!

I put on Veggie Tales Easter Carol for her, and it seemed to work for a bit. Her mood was not the same today, and all she wanted was to cuddle and read (which was wonderful) But….Poor Tot. 

 

She tried to crank out a smile, but no go.

There were many moments in the day, when she would cheerfully look at me and say, “I love you, mommy.” MELT. 

My child does know things, and she knows how to comfort herself when she feels awful. Baby!

Get well soon, sweetheart.

 

What a fun use of Q Tips. Who knew!?
It only gets better and better every day. My heart bubbles over with just being with her.