Easter And The Peampt Past

Happy Easter 2011

Even with mother nature being uncooperative, spring is on it's way. On a chilly sprinkling day, the girls took part in the Ruston annual Egg Hunt. Although drawing a sizable crowd, there were, once again, far more eggs than were needed. As per usual, the organizers were yelling for parents to fill their pockets, bring two baskets, please take more. Our shivering girls filled their baskets to over flowing, but when Devi couldn't take a step without losing two eggs over the brim, we decided to head to the coffee shop to look over the loot. Devi cashed in with a pile of penny candy and 67 cents. Treya scored a pile of penny candy and a whopping 79 cents! Both girls were delighted and asked if they could wish everyone in the coffee shop a Happy Easter and hand out their candy. The patron's were most kind as Devi (our leader) interrupted conversations to dole out the sweets. This was the perfect segway for us to sit together and tell the Easter story.

Our now familiar traditions, such as dying eggs, have taken on new life with another child experiencing them for the first time. This year, we had our first two cups of vinegar and dye overturned in the excitement. Can you guess who the culprit was? Thank goodness for garbage bag smocks! I love to stand back and watch as Treya studies Devi for signs of how to react to these new experiences - should she laugh, act scared, act confident, say something in particular. She mimics Devi like a clone in her body language as well; sitting just like her big sister, folding her hands, crossing her feet, wearing or not wearing shoes. She is intent on getting everything just right...just like Devi.

Devi is finally at an age where she has experienced holidays enough times to know how they play out and with that comes an air of confidence. She came running into our bedroom on Easter morning whimpering and exclaiming that the Easter bunny did not stop at our house - the hearth was empty. That is when I had to open one eye and remind her that Peter Cottontail can be sneaky and likes to trick little girls and boys; perhaps she should look in other places to see if he had left something in an unexpected place. Thank goodness he did, because Devi's confidence was quite rattled...meanwhile Treya toddled along behind her showing an equal amount of concern.

Treya uses her new fingered hand to gather eggs!

Devi is the old pro, showing how it is done.

Nothing slows Treya down when egg hunting!

Later in the day, we headed to Oma's house for the Easter feast. Daddy and Oma set up another egg hunt, just for fun, inside the house because by now it was down pouring. The girls delighted in flitting through Oma's living room discovering the great egg hiding places there. All of us experiencing a bit of a sugar high, it was wonderful to fill our belly's with ham and potatoes and show Treya how to do an Easter egg war. Pat has been doing egg wars at the table for as long as he can remember...testing with a tap, the strength of the end of your egg against an opponent's egg. This year, daddy was proclaimed the winner, with Treya a close second. Although the children were begging for more candy, we had all had enough with several bowls full still wafting in our pantry.

This week - a Peampt Past!

Today, we headed back for a cast change. Treya chose a Peampt Past, or pink cast. She cried huge wet tears while the old purple cast was being cut off, but was quite talkative and received praise from the doctor and technician who applied the new one. Normally, the children have to be held down, but Treya gladly sat still and eyed them with amazement as her wiggly toes were cemented in place for another week. The doctor was thrilled with the progress of her foot shape and position in just one week, saying that she had gained about 10 percent more movement when pulling your toes toward your knee. They are hoping for a 30 percent overall range of motion when the casting is complete. This week we hope to pull the heel to a straight position, forming a stable base to stand on, as currently it is turned in and up. We managed to pull off another 4 hour stint of applying no body weight fairly easily this time, but she made up for the confinement when we booted her up and turned her loose tonight. Geez. I'm exhausted!

Whoopsie Daisy - Home Repair

Devi had her first sheet rock mishap this week. On the first sunny day we've had in months, she decided the girls should sit outside in the sun. Attempting to move two children's chairs down a flight of stairs and outside was the plan. What can I say? The girl is a mulit-tasker. Thankfully, it was only a chair that came crashing down the flight of stairs and not my pumpkin pie! While all this commotion was going on, we were all outside. Devi very calmly set both chairs out for she and Treya to enjoy the sun. A few minutes later Devi said, "Momma, I have something to tell you." She went on to explain that "...I made a small hole in the wall...actually, it wasn't me, it was the chair, but the chair had an accident." Sure enough, there was a perfect leg sized puncture clean through the sheet rock. Pat and I talked about the dangers of moving furniture alone, but praised Devi for telling us the truth about what had happened, because you could see how hard it was for her to tell us. You know she wished there were some way she could just take it all back. You could see the relief in her face as soon as she realized we were not going to get mad. She was a bit irresponsible, however, so her punishment was to fix the wall herself, with the help of daddy, of course.