Easter Fun

We had a great Easter weekend filled with egg hunts, candy, duck feeding, and fun. The weekend started off with an Easter Egg Hunt that was sponsored by the City of Clemson. Drake had an egg hunt on Friday at school, so he was familiar with the hunt rules. He was a bit dismayed that he had to wait for the whistle rather than just start the hunt as soon as we stepped foot on the field. While Drake did not collect a golden egg, he did manage to "find" (it was on a baseball field) a good number of eggs.

Checking out the loot

The City has had a moon bounce and  moon bounce obstacle course at the event. Drake was very interested in both, but when he went in the moon bounce, he would jump a couple of times and then want to get out. We stood in line for the obstacle course and when it was his turn to go, he was all set, until it was time to get in. He then decided it was not for him, so we left and made our own fun at a different playground. After a lunch at Drake favorite bar, Goobers, and a long nap, we spent the rest of the day playing outside.

This morning started out with an Easter Egg Hunt at the church. Drake was a bit confused with their egg choice because they were not made of plastic and did not have treats inside. David and I did have a nice lunch of egg salad sandwiches from the 10 eggs that he collected. Drake also decided that today was a good day for his first communion. In the Episcopal church, any baptised person can take communion and it generally s up to the parents as to when their child starts receiving. I guess that Drake had his hand opened so rather than receiving a blessing, he received bread.

After church we went home a Drake found his Easter basket in the bench hiding place that the Easter Bunny had selected. The Easter Bunny brought Drake some Play Doh, bubble bath, a dinosaur bubble maker, a car, and a watering can (he loves to water plants). We then had one last Easter Egg Hunt around our living room after an early morning rain shower. Before lunch, we also headed to the Garden to feed some ducks and run off a bit of the chocolate that had been consumed.

Finding his Easter Basket

He would not put the Hershey kiss down on eat it...

Watching the ducks (notice the bread in his hands)

An Exercise in Patience

We have started on a new journey that is already proving to be an exercise in patience...getting rid of the pacifier, or "Baa/BaaBaa" as Drake so fondly calls it. I had never really intended to Drake to use a pacifier and I would not say that he even uses it that often.

Since he started his current daycare at 18 months, it has not gone with him and he willingly puts it away in the cabinet each morning. He has never had trouble napping at daycare without and his teacher has mentioned that he will only occasionally ask for it during the course of the day. Naps on the weekend, on the other hand, he specifically asks for Baa and we have given it to him. Each night as we are getting ready for bed, he will also ask for it. When home, he will ask for Baa some during the day or early evening, but we just tell him that it is not time for bed yet and he is, generally, satisfied.

So, Drake's Baa habit it not that great, just for sleeping purposes but, since he has now turned two, we decided that it was time to try and have Baa exit. His teacher has told us it is time as well as his dentist. In anticipation of beginning this process, I took to the internet to see what ideas I might find from other parents. Some have done a Build-A-Bear where the pacifier is forever entombed in the belly of the bear while others simply lose the pacifier. Another idea that I read about, which is what I decided to do, was cut off the tip of the pacifier and just let Drake know that it was broken. Most people that had used this method said that after a couple of days, their child threw it to the side because it no longer provided the soothing support. Sounds simple enough, right...

Well, I am here to tell you, it is not that simple. We cut the tips off of two of his pacifiers so he would understand that they were all broken. He out it in his mouth and understood that it was not right. He did not cry about it, just said that it was broken. I though, ok, this will be fine. Then we laid him down to sleep the first night and he would not lay down, just stood crying in his crib. This is a child who, when it is nap or bedtime, will lay right down and fall asleep. So, that first night it took me laying with Drake for him to finally go to sleep. Then it was nap time the following day. Same thing happened, this time with me taking him for a drive after an hour of not sleeping. On the ride he still did not fall asleep. When we got home, I gave him a non-broken pacifier, right to sleep.

I know one weekend of an experiment is not enough to call it quits. We need to continue working on this with him and have patience. We have thought that we need to substitute one comfort for another at sleeping times, we just have to figure out what that new comfort is going to be. I keep telling myself that it will be easier when he moves from his crib to a bed because we will be able to have a better night, night routine, but who really knows. In the meantime, we just need to have some patience with him and with ourselves.

She's a Good Dog Too

This week we had to make the decision to put Alice to sleep. She was not sick, but she was a fifteen year old dog that could not long control her bowels and was skin and bone (and fur). Each time she laid down, she had so much trouble getting back up. We could tell that she was in pain and we just did not want her to suffer at the end of her life.

Alice predated me with David and had a rough start to her. David has told me that she had clear fears of tiles floors, most likely because of some abuse she experiences prior to David adopting her when she was six months old. She was a husky/lab mix and loved when the weather turned cold and long hikes through the mountains.

Alice loved her freedom and, before we moved into our current house, was known to walk herself each night and explore the city of Clemson. She was picked up numerous times by the police, but they knew her and would just bring her home. One of her favorite stopping points on her self tours of Clemson was Colombo's where the employees would treat her with a meatball. 

Alice had two broken canine teeth, which while made her breath smell terrible, never slowed her down. She loved any bones that were thrown her way and always was in the mood for a good animal chase. Over the years, she has graced with with prizes of rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, and even a side of deer. Alice would enjoy a good game of Frisbee, as long as treats were involved.

This was a very difficult decision for us to make, but Alice loved a great life and was an wonderful companion to David. She tried to teach Luke manners when he joined out family, but he has been a slow learner. In fact, Luke taught Alice how to find her voice. We will all miss Alice and I will miss hearing Drake talk to his "Allie". We love you Alice.