Nolan will be 2 at the end of April so this year Easter was actually meaningful to him (as in, he understood that a bunny was going to bring him candy - now that I type that, it sounds crazy to me - where did this tradition come from????) Anyways, just like with Christmas, in the couple of weeks leading up to Easter, we would read books and have conversations about this magical bunny. When asked what he wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him, he responded "Green!" HUH? ?? Then we told him there'd be treats inside the eggs the E.B. leaves behind and Nolan was sold. Nothing the boy loves more than some treats! Say the word "Treat," and both Nolan and Buckley start to twitch.
The night before Easter, Nolan was pretty excited to go to bed so he could wake up and see what the bunny brought him. Rocking him the night before, we talked about what he might find the next day...."M&M's, cake, ice cream, peas..." I would make good on one of those requests...and when did peas become a treat??? Who is this kid???
After putting him to bed, I sat on the living room floor with a glass of wine and a big pile of plastic eggs to fill. An hour later, I was still sitting there...why does it take so long to fill some silly little eggs??? When I finally finished, I decided to head to bed and hide the eggs in the morning before my little sleeping beauty awoke.
We decided to hide some eggs inside and do some outside. The basket was set on the coffee table for Nolan to discover when he came out of his room. A tiny trail of M&M's sat in front of the basket.
I went in to wake up the little man, not before snapping a picture and announcing, "Nolan! Wake up! The Easter Bunny was here and he left you some treats!" "No." :) This is usually the response I get when trying to wake him on weekday mornings. "Apparently you didn't hear me, the Easter Bunny came and I think he brought you some candy, and maybe some other presents, too!" "I get up now." That's better...
First thing he says when he sees the M&M's - "Daddy was eating M&M's last night...." Sure, blame it on him. Took us a minute to stop laughing. Silly boy, look in the basket! And yes, you may eat those M&M's; no, we haven't even had breakfast yet. After pouring through the basket, we prompted him to peek out the window....what are those little bits of color outside? More eggs!?! Let's go outside to look for more!
Too much...seriously, this kid makes us laugh harder than I ever thought imaginable sometimes; if I could put it all into words, this blog post would be at least 20 pages long.....from here, I'll be brief....and include bullets, there should be bullets...
We ate breakfast, got showered and dressed and headed to Gardiner for Easter Mass...
- after each song Nolan clapped and loudly proclaimed "Yaaaaaaaayyyy!!!!"
- during the homily, the priest kept saying "Happy Easter" to which my boy would loudly respond "Happy Easter!" himself...at times it would sound something like "Happy Easter Bunny!" instead.
- a loud burp during the Liturgy which prompted the 4-5 rows of pews in front of us to shake in laughter
- noticing that the rectangular stained glass windows looked like TV's.
- trying to figure out which shoes belonged to who on the people in front of us while they were kneeling.
- singing "Happy Birthday" when Easter candles were lit....
- the priest stepping forward to "Bless this child..." when Nolan and I approached the altar for communion, altogether forgetting to give me the Eucharist and me having to tell a Eucharistic Minister that I "didn't get any."
- wanting to know what the priest was doing when putting the Eucharist back in the tabernacle and asking to "...go see Jesus!"
- finally leaving the church 75 minutes later....I only know this because the priest was keeping track...
At Nanny and Grampy's house, we discovered the Easter Bunny had been there, too! By this point, Nolan was a pro at egg collecting. He ran around the living room, exclaiming "I find it!" and throwing eggs into his bucket. Inside the eggs were the makings for a yummy snack mix. He enjoyed munching on the mix while he opened his basket from Nanny and Grampy....er, I mean, the Easter Bunny. So many fun things to play with. Probably the most favorite thing, was the Thomas the Train ball. The Easter Bunny is the best!
After all the excitement, we settled down to a delicious Easter meal of which Nolan mostly ate peas. I won't complain.
Things went a little downhill after that, especially with the effects of the Easter candy wearing off, leaving behind a whiny child who desperately needed a nap.
He talk and sang himself to sleep, and some of us enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood (much needed after the filling meal!).
It was a lovely day, made so much more fun by the little boy whose joy and excitement was catching.
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well! Many blessings...
