Egg Hunts and Nap Times and Birthday Dinners, Oh My!

It's been an eventful day! This morning was our church's Easter egg hunt. Ethan is technically 6 months too young, but I emailed the organizer and asked if he might be allowed to attend anyway, and they welcomed him to join in on the fun! I guess as penance for this, I got asked to lead the group in an opening prayer, but after that I just got to be mommy as we followed him out to the playground for his age group's hunt. As soon as we got in, he headed for the picnic table and climbed up on the bench. And wouldn't you know it, there were eggs up there! He grabbed every last one to put in his basket and hopped down to get the ones underneath as well.


After he got all of the eggs in the immediate vicinity of the picnic table, he began to wander. First he hid his own basket under the picnic table for safe keeping. And then he spotted this basket just FULL of eggs. Of course, it belonged to another child, but that didn't stop him from crouching down to look in. I managed to get to him before he actually grabbed an egg, thankfully, but he spent most of the rest of the hunt period trying to poach eggs from other kids.


I finally got him to sit back at the picnic table and examine his own loot. Once I got him to agree to retrieve his basket (every time I picked it up, he said "No" and put it back down!), he was quite excited to discover they were full of candy. Of course, none of it was anything he could eat, but it was still fun.


After the actual hunt, we went to a station where he made a jelly-beans-for-Jesus themed bracelet and to a station where he decorated a cookie. The final station was another craft, but he had about reached his limit, and it almost certainly would have been beyond his ability anyway, so we decided to head on home. Daddy and Ethan dropped me off at home to work on one of my sermons for school while they ran errands, and on their way home, Ethan fell asleep. Despite all attempts to wake him up, it was apparently futile, so he got about a 5 minute nap in the car. He woke up to come inside, nurse, and eat lunch, and then it was time for him to actually take a nap.

Two hours later, he finally did. Apparently, he thought that 5 minute nap was just enough, thanks. Except that I knew he'd be a cranky mess without a real nap, not to mention I had way too much work to do. Thankfully, he didn't cry much in his crib, but he was standing up in the corner, babbling, and then running from one end of the crib to the other, laughing. After about 1.5 hours, he did start to actually cry, so I went in to try to soothe him. By this point, I was about to give up on him getting a nap, so I decided to just offer him to nurse. And after a couple of minutes, he was out. I gingerly moved him to my shoulder and rocked him for about 10 minutes while I debated my next move. If I tried to put him down in his crib, he'd almost certainly wake up. If I took him out, I'd be unable to type while holding him. I could try to transfer him to the couch or to Daddy, but he might not sleep as long that way. Finally, I decided to risk a crib transfer since, if successful, that would have the most long-term success, and, if not, I could hopefully nurse him back down. He stirred just as I put him in, but he cuddled in to puppy and went right back to sleep! My first successful arms-to-crib transfer in 13 months!!! And then he slept for about 2.5 hours, so while it definitely got off to a rough start, it ended up being a fine nap indeed.

As soon as he woke up (just before 5), we raced down to the mall so I could try to find a suit for preaching and other events in the coming months since my only current suit is way too big. After some looking, I found a gorgeous one that I feel fantastic in, so I was quite pleased! And we capped off the eventful day with an early birthday celebration at one of my favorite restaurants.

All in all, it was a fantastic day full of fun memories! Now if I could just finish this last sermon, I'd be set!