Easter Part Two: Egg Hunts

Last year we attended the temple on Easter weekend and the result was that Lo didn't participate in any cute egg hunt (he didn't know the difference anyway). But this year we made up for whatever last year lacked by attending three egg hunts in the weeks preceding Easter. At our church egg hunt, we began with a spiritual message, and it was precious-- the speaker knelt in front of all the kids and talked about how we search for the eggs, and then get rewarded with something sweet, just like how we can search for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and find the sweet reward of Eternal Life. The event organizers had requested all the kids sit down on the curb in the parking lot, but Jerry and I were sort of slow bringing Lo Lo over that direction. So by the time we got there, all the other kids were seated. I wasn't too concerned about getting Lo to sit down and listen to the message, and figured I would just let him stand by Jerry and me since the curb was about full of kids already anyway. But Lo had other plans! I could see his brain working as he stared at all the other children, and then he toddled over to the curb, picked out a section, and sat right down where he listened quietly. I felt proud of how he wanted to join the group and did so all on his own. He's really growing up before my eyes!

And he is making friends with the other kids in church. This little girl is just a few months older than Lo, and they tend to gravitate toward each other at nursery...Her mom takes the most beautiful photos, so many thanks to Priya for the huggy shot above and also the next two photos below:

Lo Lo's Easter basket is a "basket"ball. He LOVES it. While egg hunting, he wore the strap of the basket over his shoulder like a lady would don a purse.

This candy business is serious stuff. Lo Lo learned to say "candy" over Easter weekend. He pronounces it "nan-ee" though usually just uses the ASL sign for it, which is a pointer finger twisting on one cheek. It's pretty cute, except when he asks for candy All. Day. Long.
Yay, he opened another egg to find...yet more CANDY! He really understood what egg hunts were about from the first moment, I think because lately we have checked out a lot of books about Easter from the local library.
And here he is at egg hunt #2. It was our apartment complex hunt, and held indoors because of rain. Again, I was pleased to note how Lo Lo observed all the other children, and just joined them. I didn't even have to hold him back before the hunt started--he saw that the other kids were waiting to pick up eggs, so he just followed their examples. He was the littlest one there. Pretty cute. He found some eggs hidden inside a kleenex box. I think indoor hunts are more fun because there are more hiding places...outdoor hunts just tend to have eggs strewn all over the grass in plain sight, as seen below:

This egg hunt was put on by our local YMCA, and we met one of the other kids in Lo's gym swim class while we were there, so that was fun to see a familiar face.

While we waited in line to see the Easter Bunny, Lo Lo got so excited I could hardly hang onto him. Again, I think because of the library books we've been reading, he recognized the bunny as something great. He made his "bunny noise," which is sticking his front teeth out and nuffling or whatever you'd call that noise. :) And then finally it was his turn to sit on the bunny's lap...! He ran excitedly over to the rabbit, only to be picked up and held for a minute by the bunnie's assistant. Lo was a bit thrown off guard by that strange lady picking him up, so I didn't get a good smile of him on the bunny's lap. But really, he was happy to be there. Awesome.

At this egg hunt, I felt self-conscious about helping Lo Lo put eggs in his basket, so I just took some photos of him picking up the eggs. But at the end, I noticed all the other little toddlers must have had parents helping them, because their baskets were overflowing, while Lo had a more modest collection. haha.

We had a really fun Easter and look forward to years to come as Lo grows up and figures out even more the joys of holiday celebration. Life is good.