the easter report

It feels like I start nearly every post gushing about how amazing, wonderful, funny and fun Luke is, and how whatever adventure we've embarked upon has been a great delight. I used to think adoring parents were so boring, blah-blahing about how it only gets better and kids only get more wonderful. Now, here I am, charter member of that blah-blah club. Luke was wonderful at 6 months old, for his first Easter, which we only remotely celebrated with a Bunny sweater. He was glorious at 18 months old, for his first Easter egg hunt which involved empty plastic eggs, since the whole delight was the peekaboo nature of finding eggs. This year was the best, with our glorious 2 1/2 year old. I very much enjoyed my new role of filling the Easter basket and organizing the treats, as opposed to (many) years past, when I received the Easter basket. The roles in life all switch around eventually, and it's a different and just as delightful way to celebrate.

Since we're essentially starting our Easter traditions from scratch, JM and I decided that the Easter Bunny would ring the doorbell, scamper away, and leave Luke's Easter basket on the front doorstep. That would give JM time to position the camera and catch some great shots of Luke's excited face discovering the basket. Only, we didn't quite count on the anticipation Luke would have at the sound of the doorbell and the prospect of MEETING the Easter Bunny. The doorbell rang when Luke was downstairs with Dada, they both rushed upstairs (thus allowing a quick getaway for the Easter Bunny) and Luke was utterly crestfallen to have missed the Bunny. He almost couldn't focus on the Easter basket because he was so disappointed about missing the Bunny. Chocolate eggs quickly soothed the disappointment, but I think we may need to change our game plan for next year.

Other highlights from our celebration:

• A massive 100+ egg hunt for 3 kids in our backyard (Luke and our friends' children, Yuba and River, who are 4 and 2 1/2)
• Jean-Max creatively hiding those 100+ eggs in our backyard for said children (in the sandbox! hanging in the tree! in the dumptruck!)
• Three gloriously happy children, running to and fro, filling their baskets
• Luke getting distracted while he ate a chocolate egg
• River getting distracted once he saw the front loader in the sandbox
• Yuba giving a "bath" to the stretchy (non-edible) lizard toys that were in some of the eggs
• Luke declaring that his new Schleich dog (Marley) was "so sad and crying because he wants a brother"
• River, a most dedicated engineer, playing with Luke's trains for nearly 2 hours -- and Luke letting him
• Yuba making all sorts of lovely delights with Luke's new tea set (wine or tea, she offered)
• Luke carrying water from the water table to a separate tub, carrying, carrying, carrying
• The quiet that descended over the lunch table when all 7 of us sat down to eat
• Luke and me napping together, post-party, exhausted, happy and snuggly