I can hardly believe it's over ... the long drawn out holiday season, which began last October, has finally come to an end. While I'll be the first to say it ended a little prematurely - with Easter on March 23 this year - nonetheless it is now over.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around why Easter was not in April and I know it has something to do with a calendar other than the one we observe. Let me be the first to say, St. Patrick's Day and Easter less than one week apart just about killed me. Switching gears from the wearing of the green and leprechaun tales, to egg coloring and Easter Bunny build up made for one whirlwind week around the Hammond House.
By Saturday's Egg Hunt hosted by Oakdale Parks and Rec, my son's head was not just ready to explode ... it did explode. As he hunted carefully around center field of Field Two at Kerr Park the happiness came to a screeching halt. He just wanted to find two eggs and being the passive kid that he is, it just was not in the cards.
It all began that Saturday morning as we ate breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. "How many eggs are you going to find?" I asked our pre-schooler. "Two," he responded matter-of-factly. A bit caught off guard, I thought perhaps he is more like me than I realize - a realist and not greedy. Well, I thought, that is a good realistic goal that he will certainly be able to achieve.
We arrived at the Egg Hunt with plenty of time for sister to find a few eggs with brother's help in the 0-2 category. We would soon realize, this was more his pace than his grouping of 3- to 5-year-olds.
While I stood in center field, awaiting the newspaper photo op, my son waited patiently on the other side of the chain link fence with the rest of his age group. It truly was a sight, hundreds of pint size egg hunters, baskets in hand, ready to bust down the gate.
Shortly before their release, organizers would allow children only to line up along the first base line and wait patiently for the countdown. As they counted down from 10 to 1 my son sat patiently in his element. Structure and instruction work for him; he is just one of those kids. As they turned them loose at 'one,' for our son it was the beginning of the end.
This was his first large egg hunt and the concept of running to beat the other kids to the eggs was one he just did not seem to grasp.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around why Easter was not in April and I know it has something to do with a calendar other than the one we observe. Let me be the first to say, St. Patrick's Day and Easter less than one week apart just about killed me. Switching gears from the wearing of the green and leprechaun tales, to egg coloring and Easter Bunny build up made for one whirlwind week around the Hammond House.
By Saturday's Egg Hunt hosted by Oakdale Parks and Rec, my son's head was not just ready to explode ... it did explode. As he hunted carefully around center field of Field Two at Kerr Park the happiness came to a screeching halt. He just wanted to find two eggs and being the passive kid that he is, it just was not in the cards.
It all began that Saturday morning as we ate breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. "How many eggs are you going to find?" I asked our pre-schooler. "Two," he responded matter-of-factly. A bit caught off guard, I thought perhaps he is more like me than I realize - a realist and not greedy. Well, I thought, that is a good realistic goal that he will certainly be able to achieve.
We arrived at the Egg Hunt with plenty of time for sister to find a few eggs with brother's help in the 0-2 category. We would soon realize, this was more his pace than his grouping of 3- to 5-year-olds.
While I stood in center field, awaiting the newspaper photo op, my son waited patiently on the other side of the chain link fence with the rest of his age group. It truly was a sight, hundreds of pint size egg hunters, baskets in hand, ready to bust down the gate.
Shortly before their release, organizers would allow children only to line up along the first base line and wait patiently for the countdown. As they counted down from 10 to 1 my son sat patiently in his element. Structure and instruction work for him; he is just one of those kids. As they turned them loose at 'one,' for our son it was the beginning of the end.
This was his first large egg hunt and the concept of running to beat the other kids to the eggs was one he just did not seem to grasp.
