Jurassic vegetarian

Declan's old enough now to have grown into the ability to stun us with his amazing intellectual growth and application of reason.  Tavish has become cuter than his older brother, partly because the baby gets excited when he successfully puts small stuff into bigger stuff, or replaces an object in the same spot he found it.  Plus, he learned how to get off the couch by himself, which most frequently occurs head-first, his body following in some completely unpredictable path.

This was the first Easter we decided to do anything for the boys since one of them at least could appreciate our (i.e., Amy's) efforts to make it special for them.  It was a last-minute affair, so I took both boys out for a quick drive while Amy got the loot ready early Sunday morning.  I returned a movie, mailed a letter, and swung by the drive-thru at Timmy Ho's, where I always get a large coffee, Amy always gets a small iced-cap, and Dex always gets two Tim-Bits.  (Tavish gets left out of the ritual - for now -  mostly because he lacks the perceptive ability to understand what's going on.  Inclusion, generally speaking, is partially dependant on one's ability to piss and moan when excluded.)

We got back home and Dex found a small, empty white bucket sitting on the porch with the instructions to put all the eggs inside.  (There was a handful of chocolate eggs sitting in front of it.)  He excitedly did so and we went back in the house to find more piles of small, chocolate easter eggs sprinkled in obvious but suddenly exciting locations.  There were a number of larger, prize-filled eggs to complement the chocolate haul.

One of these bigger eggs had a cardboard pterodactyl toy that came with its own special bag of water to soak in.  And then it grows stuff on it!  So Amy put it together, set it in the water, and we waited.

We went to my mother's house for Sunday Easter supper and returned home just in time to put the baby to bed.  Dex and I went to check on his cardboard toy before he also went to bed.  We found that the creature had sprouted fluffy, green 'stuff' all over its wings, tail and back.  It crumbled to the touch.  Dusting some of the offending debris off his hands, Declan turned to me and, with a lowered voice, said, "Look Daddy.  A broccoli dinosaur!"

Comments

[Moksha Gren]

I think I saw a Sci-Fi Channel original movie about a monster like that. And if not...give 'em time.

I love your inclusion justification. Quite philosophical when you think about it.

I'm really looking forward to Norah being old enough for Easter. It's really my kind of holiday. Not so much for the resurrection stuff. But as an old pagan celebration Spring that we celebrate by hiding candy about the house for our children to find...how great is that? I'm looking forward to finding that too-well-hidden egg in July.

[Mark]

Glad you guys had a good Easter. Sometimes spontaneous and rushed works with kids, and you managed to pull it off this time.

MG - Just don't hide any real eggs too well.

[Alvis]

"Inclusion...is partially dependant on one's ability to piss and moan when excluded."

Very quotable. I like it.

[Simon]

Moksha, I have to wonder how many holidays celebrated today still hold true to the original intent behind their creation? As long as you make it meaningful to you now, right?

Mark, spontaneous and rushed seems to define the majority of the activities we enjoy with our boys. Still... lotsa fun!

Alvis, thanks. I'll take credit for that one.

[Moksha Gren]

Very true, Simon. However, some would argue that Easter really WAS originally a spring fertility festival. So, "original intent behind their creation" gets a bit sticky.

[Suzanne Bellerive]

Simon,

This is my first visit to your webpage, and I have bookmarked it, and do you know why? Because you are, in my opinion (and I'm an editor as well as a voracious reader, so it counts), a "real" writer. Yep. You are younger than me (perhaps) and you are raising much younger children than I am, and that often means that what a journaller has to say will not offer me much of interest. But in your case, it is a pleasure to read you because You.Are.A.Real.Writer.

Go ahead, stick out your chest. You have every right to.

[Linda]

Wow, Simon :-) Told you.

[Paul]

This year was the first year we didn't hide any eggs for Matthew. He didn't even notice there was anything different. In past years, he'd search out all the eggs, and various chocolate, molded animals, they'd get put into a bucket, and there they'd sit, until Dad ate them all. Matthew just doesn't have much of a sweet tooth.

Of course, Dad misses it all...