Hope you all had a very green St. Patrick’s Day. Eirinn did. A girl whose name means “Ireland” has no business not having a green St. Pats.
And, of course, by “green”, I do not only mean the colour of her shirts, socks, and hair elastics. I also mean that she was a raving, moody lunatic. As though she had been binging on Guiness all. day. And she did not nap. And she got sent to bed half an hour early.
But she sure can take a cute picture. Just don’t believe the smile. The smile lies.
What are you doing for Easter with your toddlers? Or, what did you do for Easter when you had toddlers? Or, what would you suggest someone with a toddler do? And of course I’m referring the whole Easter Bunny gift giving aspect, not the religious/non-religious part. I don’t get into that kind of talk over here in Tornado Alley.
I think Eirinn would really enjoy an Easter egg hunt. She lawbs playing hide and seek, which is like an Easter egg hunt only hunting for humans. That sounded more Wes Craven than I wanted it to, but you know what I meant. And, if she ran things around here (which she almost does), she would be allowed to consume mass quantities of chocolate bunnies, run laps around the house while screaming like a lunatic (preferably clothes-free), slam head first into a sugar low, morphing her into a crazed, tantrum-throwing Mega Beast.
Buuuuut…that does NOT sound like how I would like our Easter Sunday to go. I’m picturing her dressed in her finest Sunday dress (note to self: buy Eirinn a Sunday dress), delicately tiptoeing around the garden (note to self: melt snow and plant a garden), finding sweet little decorated Easter Eggs that lead her to a chocolate covered salad (note to self: wake up and meet your daughter for the very first time). Apparently my minds eye is in desperate need of a reality check.
What I think will happen, and what I’ve purchased thus far, is I will fill those little plastic eggs from the Dollarama with M&M’s, Skittles, and Gummy Bears, in reasonable toddler-sized portions (about 10 candies in each). This way she can get what she wants (chocolate, preservatives, chemicals…sugar high!) and I can portion control her by telling her she can eat One Whole Egg at a time!!! And promptly hide the rest.
I don’t think I would be neglecting her or depriving her of her Earthly Toddler Rights if I don’t buy her anything else (stuffed animals that would be ignored, giant chocolate bunnies that would transform her into a sweet [tasting] monster, clothes that she would unabashedly tell me she “no yikes”), especially since her birthday will have only been two weeks earlier and lasted a whole three (3!) weekends long. Because that’s a lot of presents.
So, tell me. What do your Easter festivities consist of?
Our Christmas was fantabulous. How was yours? We did all of our visiting and eating and present-exchanging. We all had recovered from our colds and were in good spirits throughout the holidays. All four of us got ridiculously spoiled everywhere we went. And therein lies the one and only eensie, teensie, weensie issue. It’s miniscule. Very, very small.
The fact that we can barely breathe over here through the toys. Our house is stuffed air-tight.
Next year there will be a limit to how much everyone is allowed to buy Eirinn. Two toys each. They can buy as much clothing and as many books as they want (because who am I to say she can’t be well dressed and well read?), but two toys ONLY. And if they just have to buy more than that, go for it, but it’s staying at their house.
Of course, they only have the best of intentions. She is, in fact, the only grandchild/niece on either side, so who else are they going to spoil? And it’s not the spoiling, per se, that I’m against. Not at all. It’s the clutter. The mounds upon mounds of brightly coloured plastic that has now turned itself into our main floor decorating scheme. There are princess kitchens and Dora tents and magnetic easels and Magnedoodles and giants blocks and T-ball sets everywhere. Everywhere.
Eirinn loves it. Everything she got is her new favourite toy. She thinks we should do this Christmas thing every day.
And, I must admit, if I had a niece or nephew, there’s no doubt I would be spoiling the crap out of her or him. And this spoiling would also take the form of brightly coloured plastic.
