“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to
have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
-Elizabeth Stone
Easter quickly approaches and Ashlyn is excited. She has literally been talking about “Mr. Bunny” most of the weekend, so it was fortunate for us that Bedford held their annual Easter Egg Hunt and Thousands of Crazy Children Extravaganza this weekend at the Bedford Boy’s Ranch. Ashlyn came prepared with a basket and a determination to get as many eggs as she could in it. And she did, filling up her basket during the toddler Egg Hunt despite how well they hid them.
The best part of the day happened after the Egg Hunt was over. We were in line to see “Mr. Bunny” and get our picture taken when a little boy in front of us showed interest in Ashlyn’s Eggs. Ashlyn reached in her basket, took out an egg, and handed it to him. It’s little things like a small act of sharing that make me realize we’re not completely screwing her up after all.
So +1 to us for teaching sharing but we failed somehow in the area of holiday animals and people (the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause are prime examples). She really wanted to see the Bunny, and even gave him one of her eggs (more sharing!), but that was as close as she wanted to get. We tried to get her to take a picture, but she wouldn’t have it.
After she finished crying, we went off to let her play in the sand at the volleyball courts. Ashlyn stomped off and started walking. And kept walking, and kept walking until she was on the far side. Then she held out her hand and made the “come here” gesture. Apparently the sand box was just a shortcut to the playground, which we spent the next hour or so in. That was the furthest that Ashlyn has ever walked away from us before stopping.
After nap it was time for round 2 of painting except this time it was Ashlyn’s room. Ashlyn contributed approximately 1.5 minutes of actual wall painting before she became bored and started painting herself and putting hand prints on the wall. After she was washed up, she sat on her bed and watched us paint. Soon we’ll bring her furniture in, and the majority of our house preparations will be complete. Bring on kid #2!
This next picture has nothing to do with anything, but I wanted to show everyone Ashlyn’s “I did something, but you don’t know what it is yet” look.
We still haven’t found what she did yet, and that’s a scary thought.