The sheep on the hill are still lying still...

Well, I'm back. The weekend was fun, despite the drama (did I mention I went to an all-girls school?). We ate, drank, danced, laughed, cried and took more than one a stroll down memory lane. I saw people I hadn't seen in more than a decade and a half, and have a healthy respect for the class of 1983. Those women know how to party.

Typical.

The tune for the weekend was set - literally - upon landing at BWI. I turned on my cell phone to text my friend (Hi, Lannin!) that I was on the ground, but was distracted by an incoming phone call. From day care. Banner had pink eye and needed to go home. 

OMG, really? 

(I'm not a catastrophist for nothing, you know. And I had just mentioned to Trevor the night before that I was POSITIVE something would happen the second I landed in Baltimore!)

So, I called Trevor and told him he needed to leave work immediately to pick up Banner. 

Me:  “Oh, and by the way, call the vet once you get in the car because his teachers are pretty sure he has conjunctivitis.  Which is highly contagious, so - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THINGS HOLY - WASH YOUR HANDS AND DON’T TOUCH YOUR EYES!”

Trevor:  “The vet?”

Me:  “Seriously?  That's all you got out of my last statement?  A LITTLE STRESSED HERE!"

This would also be the moment that I realized that my own eyes were itching and burning.  Because, obviously.  It's going on 4 PM on a Friday afternoon, I'm 1500 miles from home and I've just convinced myself that I have pink eye.

It’s akin to watching the video about lice and experiencing a sudden, intense scalp itch. Or at least it is was for me because Psychosomatic Disease is STRONG with this one (points at self).

Luckily, less than an hour later, Trevor called back with the FABULOUS news that Banner did not, in fact, have pink eye.  Just another human design flaw ear infection like THIS ONE back in January.

Awesome.

In other news, I had a giant zit on my chin the entire effing weekend. I was actually thinking about how good my skin has been since...well, I got pregnant two years ago. It isn't perfect, but I've definitely had fewer "disasters". And then *wham*: I wake up with something the size of a small volcano on my chin the very morning I'm preparing to fly cross country to see people I haven't seen in ages. I'm super lucky that way.

I'd also like to make a special shout out to Phil for being such a good sport. It was his tenth wedding anniversary, and I'm sure he had about 15,000 different ways he would have preferred to spend it than at his wife's high school reunion at an all girls school. Never mind forcing him to photo-document the reenactment of the infamous Broom Closet Fight of 1996 or helping to blow drying my bed after Hilary he spilled white wine everywhere.

Me:  "I'm blow drying my bed."
Anna:  "I miss you."
Me:  "Seriously.  I'm blow drying my bed."
Anna:  "Are you coming down?"
Me:  "WE ARE BLOW DRYING MY BED!"

And, because I have no idea how to end this post, here is a little bit of photo irony (even though it is less "irony" and more "OMG"):

First thing I saw when I picked up Banner
after landing at DFW on Monday afternoon.

Well done, Trevor. Well done.

Trevor has been acting like a martyr ever since I finalized my travel plans to fly to Maryland this weekend for my high school reunion.  Originally, we had planned on going together since we've only had one brief weekend alone since Banner arrived, but we had problems securing a sitter that could stay with Banner.  So, since Trevor had a boy's weekend last year in Vegas, it was decided it was my turn to have a weekend away with the girls.

Still, feeling guilty, I offered to schedule our favorite sitter so he could have a night off while I was out of town.  After all, when he went to Vegas last spring, my mother came and stayed with me.  Sometimes you just need a little help.  

(Granted, I was a little hormonal last year and irrationally terrified of sleeping in the house with Banner by myself.  Plus, I still hadn't mastered the whole leaving-the-house-with-baby thing yet, and had issues feeling isolated and overwhelmed.  I NEEDED MY MOM.)

But sensing one night off wasn't enough for my hubby, I called back and scheduled Molly for a second evening.  It made me feel better that he'd have help because Banner is one extremely energetic toddler.  It can be exhausting and I felt bad I wasn't going to be there to share in the chaos.

Since then, though, I've learned that Trevor has also asked his mother to watch Banner for awhile so he can go to the gym on Saturday.  And Amy is apparently on standby for Saturday and/or Sunday.  I even heard from my sister-in-law last night that Spencer is planning on coming over as well to assist in my absence.

Which, to recap, means:

Banner goes to school on Friday and Trevor has the sitter Friday night.

On Saturday, my mother-in-law is going to watch Banner in morning while Trevor goes to the gym, Spencer is coming over in the afternoon "to help" and the sitter is coming back that evening.

Amy is less than a mile away and has generously offered to help out on if needed, and Banner goes BACK to school on Monday.  I return Monday afternoon.

Sooooo...basically Trevor is also on vacay this weekend.  

He even went out drinking with the boys tonight after work, while I stayed home with the baby to pack.

I've totally been played!  Martyr my a$$!

UPDATE:  Trevor just said, "Why do the work when you can have others do it for you?" and just admitted to also trying to line up MY MOTHER to help out Sunday.  I'm shocked and a little in awe.  I can't believe I ever felt guilty! He's obviously been planning this for awhile.

There's that lady again...

On Wednesday morning, Banner woke up extra special early for - as far as Trevor and I could tell - absolutely no reason at all.  Since it was almost time for Trevor's alarm to go off, he simply cut his losses and brought Ban to me in bed while he jumped in the shower.

Banner was all fine and snuggly while Trevor was in the bathroom, but once he emerged, the kid suddenly needed his daddy.  LIKE NOW.

There was much crying and more than a few attempts by Banner to throw himself off the bed (in dramatic toddler fashion) while Trevor got dressed.  It was a little exasperating.

Finally, though, Trevor was able to take his son (who immediately stopped crying much to my chagrin), while I donned my bunny slippers and headed to the kitchen to feed the dogs.  I passed Trevor and Banner in the den, who had just finished grabbing a pre-breakfast snack from the cupboard.

As they walked by, Trevor mumbled, "There's that lady again," and I almost jumped out of my skin.  Immediately, I thought there was some sort of creepy, old lady staring at us from the backyard through the study windows.  To escape her gaze, I half screamed, grabbed Trevor and attempted to hide behind him.

But instead of protecting me, Trevor started to laugh hysterically.

Apparently, I was said lady and Trevor had really been talking to Banner.

And Trevor wonders why I don't like to watch scary movies...

At least I no longer wear socks with my birkenstocks. That's progress, right?

I got my nails done for the first time in months on Monday.  Since spawning, I rarely get mani/pedis anymore.  But this weekend I'm heading east for my high school reunion and figured my nails needed a little TLC.

I NEVER get color on my nails, because I am a terrible visualizer and have commitment issues.  In fact, the LAST TIME I had a "color" on my nails was YEARS ago after I ran a half marathon and one of my toenails turned black.  It was gross and I couldn't take it, so I painted my toes bright red to cover up the problem. 

Other than that, though, my nails are usually naked or painted in the very boring French or American style.  But something happened at the salon on Monday afternoon, and I found myself asking the nice lady to paint my nails a deep, dark purple.  The color just called to me, which NEVER HAPPENS. 

Y'all.  It was terrifying.

I texted Trevor and he was completely unsupportive of my impulse nail color selection.  Something about his having to work, nail color being temporary and "real world problems".  Blah, blah, blah.

And then it got worse because I sort of fell asleep during the whole massage thing, and awoke to discover that BOTH my hands and feet were painted purple. 

(I thought I was getting my usual French on my toes to disguise the fact that I have freakishly small toenails.)

And, OMG, the purple looks BLACK.

Technically, this has PAY BACK written all over it because black nails totally remind me of a certain vegan high school classmate of mine and an incident involving me accidentally leaving a bag of unrefrigerated cow fat in the school bio lab overnight. 

(Cut me some slack.  I was making lye soap from scratch for some sort of legit school project.)

Seriously.  The nail color is totally fitting in an oops-I-totally-didn't-do-this-on-purpose kind of way.

(Just like THE FAT, y'all.  Again:  IT WAS AN ACCIDENT.)

Anyhoo, I'm pretty sure my nails shocked Trevor and revolted my mother.  I kind of thought my sister would like it, but apparently "dark nail colors are a young-person trend for the cold weather months".

Well, f*ck.

So now I am officially an old fart sporting a seasonally inappropriate nail color that brings back bizarre memories from fifteen years ago RIGHT BEFORE I'm scheduled to see people I haven't seen in more than a decade.  Just my luck.

Secretly I still like the color.  I even tried to convince Trevor that, "I don't care what other people think."

He laughed at me a lot and called me a liar.

The theme of this update is apparently: UH-OH!

My kid, y'all.  He is a total ladies man.  When I picked him up the other day, I overheard Abigail's mom telling another parent how cute it was that Banner just waved bye-bye to her daughter and then gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I'm sorry.  What?

Of course, this is the same kid who randomly gets in trouble for tackling girls.  Apparently this has been going on for awhile, but Trevor and I just found out about it a couple of weeks ago when Banner's teacher, Ebony, asked me if we did a lot of roughhousing at home.

Me:  "No, why?"

Ebony:  "Well, Banner sometimes tackles the other students."

Me:  "Oh, no.  You are kidding!"

Ebony:  "I don't think he is doing it to be mean.  It starts out like he is just going in for a hug.  But the next thing we know, he has tackled them and pinned them to the ground."
 

Me:  "Seriously?"

Ebony:  "He is just so strong.  Anyway, I just thought maybe he was mimicking something he saw at home."

Me:  "No, we aren't in the habit of tackling each other at home.  I mean, Trevor and I will tickle him from time to time, but nothing like what you are talking about."

Ebony:  "How about with other children?  How does he act around them when he isn't in school?"

Me:  "He actually doesn't see that many other kids.  We have the occasional play date, but I really don't know that many other moms with kiddos Banner's age."

Ebony:  "I see.  How about at church or at the park?"

Me:  "I've never seen anything like what you are describing..."

Ebony:  "Well, again.  We don't think he is trying to hurt anyone.  He really just might be trying to hug the other kids, and just knocks them over the in the process."

Me:  "He does like to hug."

Ebony:  "Natasha sings the Maniac song when Banner tackles someone.  You know?  'He's a maniac, maniac on the floor..."

Me:  "Except I think that song is about a woman on the dance floor."

Ebony:  "You know, come to think of it, Banner only ever tackles the girls.  He leaves the boys alone."

Henry's Mom:  "Haha!  Having girl problems already?"

Me:  "OMG, this is so embarrassing.  What can I do?  I mean, I'll talk to him, but English really isn't his thing right now.  I don't want him to hurt anyone."

Ebony:  "I guess we will just have to work on 'nice' hugs."

Me:  "At home, we use to word 'gentle' when touching mommy's hair or petting the dogs."

Ebony:  "Gentle.  That's good.  Don't worry.  We will work on it with him."

So, basically, my kid is the tackling version of a biter.  But he lures them in with his charm.

Great.

My sister thinks he is going to grow up to be a rapist. 

(Thanks Amy.  Helpful as always.)

Although it is mortifying that Ebony initially thought Trevor was tackling me a lot at home in front of Banner.  Which?  No.  Our rugby and football days are over.  And, well, we don't have that kind of energy.

"Helping" pick out flowers.

In other news, Banner has added "pow" (Banner for "cow"), "Eye" and "Buh-Buh" (hi and bye-bye.  He waves, too) and "wa-wa" (water) to his vocabulary, along with "NO!" which, quite frankly, is ruining everything.  Trevor and I tried really hard no to use "no" in Banner's presence; opting, instead, to phrases like "I don't think so!" and "Uh-oh!".  But it was all for naught, because one of his classmates (Maddy) thinks "no" is just about the coolest word ever and uses it all the time with copious amounts of sass and attitude. 

And, now, so does Banner.

(Sigh)

He also follows simple commands like, "close the door", "let's wash your hands", "where's the ball?".  It is a little strange to realize that I'm able to communicate with him.  He seems to understand more and more every day.  Oh, and the hi-five?  Still as popular as peek-a-boo and the 1, 2, 3 game.  And give the kid a beat, and he is DANCING.  Last week he starting tapping his foot, spinning in circles and bending at the waist to really shake his booty!  Justin Timberlake has nothing on the BANNERMAN!

Favorite songs of the moment?  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Who Let the Dogs Out (Banner likes to shout "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!") and Ma-Nah-Ma-Nah.

 

In fact, he now thinks it is hysterical to offer his cookie to one of the dogs, and then pull back and say "NO!" at the last minute.  Of course, Banner underestimates how food motivated his dogs are, and generally loses his cookie regardless.  A cookie offered to one of our resident canines, is a cookie eaten.  It is like taking candy from a baby.  Only in this case I mean it literally. 

Banner also says something that sounds suspiciously like "Alley" (Ah-EE).  Although, we heard it more when Alley was in her cone.  Now that her stitches are out, I'm not 100% sure Banner can tell his "da" apart.

Speaking of talking, Banner favorite word - hands down - is still "uh-oh!".  This is especially the case if you are doing something wrong.  Like last Monday when poor Ebony and Natasha were trying to negotiate the giant six-seat strollers back through the gate and door after the class went on a nature walk on the play ground.  They kept hitting the gate and door frame, and with every bump Banner would exclaim, "Uh-Oh!"

Ebony:  "Yes, Banner.  Uh-oh."

Bang!

Banner:  "Uh-Oh!"

Ebony:  "I know Banner.  I did it again."

Bump!

Banner:  "Uh-Oh!"

Ebony:  "Thank you, Banner.  You don't have to tell everybody that I can't steer this thing properly."

Thump!

Banner:  "Uh-Oh!"

And so it continued.

Of course, the only reason I was there to witness this scenario was because I had arrived to pick up Banner as they were about to depart on the nature walk.  Ebony was ready to take Banner out of the stroller, but the B-Man started to fuss and INTENTIONALLY avoided eye contact with me.  Normally, Banner RUNS to me when I arrive to collect him at the end of the day.  But apparently going on a buggy ride outside ranks higher on his list of "things I want to do today" than going home with mommy.  Seriously.  He wouldn't even look in my direction.  So I gave in and let him go, because - honestly - I had no where else to be. 

And, just in case you are curious, he continued to ignore me until the buggy ride was over.  Then, he ran and embraced my legs like had just realized I was there.

Whatever, kid.  I know when I've been played.

But back to The Uh-Oh...

I was driving Banner home earlier this week, and he put his hood up and pulled it down over his eyes for a quick game of peek-a-boo while we were waiting at a red light. 

Me:  "Oh, no!  Where is Banner?!"

Banner:  [Giggles]

Me:  "Where did he go?"

Banner:  [Giggles]

Me:  "Where-o-where could my baby be?"

Banner:  [Giggles]

Me:  "Did he get lost?"

Banner:  "Uh-oh! [Giggle, giggle, giggle! Lifts hood dramatically off head!]"

Me:  "THERE HE IS!"

I love that he already seems to know that "lost" is an uh-oh-able situation.

Aside:  Banner now loves to hold my finger.  Sometimes when we are walking around the backyard, but mostly while we are driving around in the car.  It's like he just needs a little contact comfort every now and then.  Love it.

Dirk 2.0

Trevor bought Banner a basketball hoop and is teaching his son to dunk.  They are also working on tossing and catching the ball.  Ban has the throwing thing down, but balls thrown AT him just bounce off.  It is kind of like playing fetch with Haskell.  Except Haskell never exclaims, "UH-OH!"

He has also started INSISTING on feeding himself lately, which generally results in a giant mess.  The dogs are big fans of this new development, but me?  Not so much.  Seriously, how do people without dogs raise toddlers?  OMG.

In other news, Banner's closet is a mess at the moment.  He's starting to outgrow some of his 24 month clothes, but the REAL problem is that the weather this spring has been a little bipolar.  We actually broke a record yesterday for a low in the 30s.  It is mid-April, people!  In Texas!  This just doesn't happen. 

In fact, the cycle around here lately has been 80s for a day or two, followed by highs in the mid-50s.  It isn't just Banner's closet, either.  I started putting my sweaters away awhile back, but then it got cold again.  Hence my closet is a transitional nightmare, and has been FOR WEEKS.  I can't find a dang thing.

In other news, Banner still ADORES the outdoors.  I finally Lysol-ed the stroller enough to get over THIS INCIDENT, and we've been taking advantage of the nice days by going on walks around the neighborhood and playing in the yard.  We refer to the dog run off the kitchen as "the zoo" and go and visit the "das" a least once or twice a day to try and feed them sticks and grass (Gypsy almost always plays along and accepts whatever he offers through the fence).

He is also really into daffodils.  My neighbor, Becky, showed him how to pick them and blow the seed pods off.  Now he is constantly in search of them.  Thank goodness they are edible (unlike the holly berries she taught him to squish), because they almost always end up in his mouth. 

Banner is also desperate to help.  He wants to help pull his highchair out at dinner time.  He helps fill the bird feeders, and tries to pick up any spilled seed.  He wants to help push the stroller (which is hard because he also wants to ride in the stroller and these two things can't happen simultaneously). 

But my favorite is when he comes across a spill of some kind.  He always exclaims "uh-oh!" before attempting to "dry" it by wiping whatever it is (milk, water, dog drool) all over the floor with his finger.  I've tried to get him to use a towel or napkin, but he always thinks I'm handing him something to eat or chew on.

Uh-oh...

He also tries to "help" by informing us that he is about to do something bad.  Like pick up something he knows he's not supposed to touch, stand up on his chair or climb up on the coffee table.  He will look at us, say "uh-oh" and then proceed to do whatever it is anyway. 

Can't imagine where he got that from.

(TREVOR!)

He also uh-ohs his diaper when he wakes up in the morning and discovers that his diaper has leaked.  At first I thought it was a fluke, but three-days-in-a-row later and I'm starting to think we need to graduate to size six night diapers.  That boy can pee, and I'm getting tired of waking up to the sound of my baby chanting "uh-oh" over and over and over again like a broken record in his crib.  And when I finally got up and walked into his room this morning, he looked at me, deliberately pointed at his diaper and declared (you guessed it), "Uh-Oh!"  Apparently, he wasn't 100% convinced I had gotten the message from the other room.

I've also heard him uh-oh a poopy diaper once, but it might have just been a coincidence.  I think he secretly likes walking around with stinky pants.

DA-DA!

Banner HATES it when you leave without saying goodbye.  Last weekend, Trevor left for the gym when he thought Banner wasn't paying attention.  The next thing I knew, Banner was sobbing hysterically, running through the house at top speed, throwing open the door to the attached garage and banging on the garage door as if desperately trying to get it to open to chase after daddy.

Which brings me to toddler myth #462:

There is no pitter-patter of little feet. 

Banner's feet only go STOMP, STOMP, STOMP!

He sure is cute when doing it, though (especially with a smile!)

(And, yes, that was my "ending".  These update posts have no clear organization anyway, so I have no idea why you'd expect me to have a proper conclusion.  Especially since I completely skipped the intro and simply launched into story mode.  Quality writing, y'all.  I mean, obviously.)  ;P

There's a new sheriff in town...

...and his name is Cowboy Banner:

(He takes his job VERY seriously.)

 

Here he is helping to settle a domestic dispute over a toy phone:



(I love that he took his hat off for the ladies.)

 

And here he is chillin' at the hitchin' post:



 

And, finally, here he is doing his best impression of Big Tex:

 

Howdy, Folks!

 

The best part about the whole thing is that I was supposed to dress him up as a farmer this morning for...well, I don't really know why.  A note just went home yesterday reminding parents that today was "dress your kid as a farmer day".  And, well, I don't really have anything farmer chic at home. 

 

(And by that I mean I don't have any overalls or straw hats.)

 

(Because ALL farmers wear overalls and straw hats.  Obviously.)

 

(Thanks for going along with me on that.)

 

So, instead, I just dressed him in what we had at home (compliments of Trevor's impulse buy back in September that resulted in THIS POST).  I thought he looked like a farmer.  Well, until I got to school and everyone kept asking why my kid was dressed like a cowboy. 

 

I'm just glad Banner is too young to understand that his mama dressed him weird today on purpose.

 

Especially since NO ONE ELSE was dressed up at all.  Unless you count the one kid in overalls, but I'm not convinced that just wasn't a coincidence.

15 Month Wellness Visit...

Last Monday, Banner had his fifteen month checkup with his pediatrician.

He DID have to have several shots (DTap, Haemophilus Influenzae Type B, and IPV), which worried me after what happened following his last shots in January.  However, the doctor assured me that none of these were the same as his twelve month vaccines.  In fact, they were all boosters from the ones he received at two, four and six months.

His eighteen month visit is another story.  But, just to be safe, he will only be getting a single booster at that time (I love that my pediatrician broke up Banner's vaccines so he won't be getting so many at once in July).  Unfortunately, it will be one of the shots he had at a year.  But, as the doctor pointed out, Banner's high fever *may* have been caused by a virus and not the shots at all.  Knowing me, though, I'll probably still worry until it is over and done with in July.  It is simply in my nature.  I'm not Trevor's little catastrophist for nothing.

In other news, Banner continues to develop on schedule.  When the doctor asked him to "walk to mommy", he ran.  He also showed off his verbal skills by whispering, "Wow!" when the the pediatrician handed him a wooden tongue depressor to play with after the exam.

It's the little things when you have a toddler.

As for his fifteen month stats, Banner weighed in at 25.8 pounds (65%), has a head circumference of 47.5 (70%) and was proclaimed to be "off the charts" by the nurse at 34 1/4 inches (99%).  This, of course, explains why some of his 24 month onesies are starting to pull at the neck, and why we had to take the kiddo back to Stride Rite for a new pair of sneakers.  The little dude's feet have grown TWO SIZES since January, and he now is sporting around town in a size seven.

Even the doctor commented on how loooooong Banner is.  We joked that he'll be able to ride the big kid rides at Six Flags by his third birthday.

Now, if we can only get him to stop tackling girls at school...

Random 15 month pictures...

A sweet, childhood friend of mine had her baby shower this afternoon, and I need a (last minute) gift.  Really I knew what I wanted to get her way ahead of time, but apparently lacked the necessary energy to drive all the way out to Buy, Buy Baby and make my purchase.  Luckily, my boys took matters in their own hands and decided to go shopping with me.  It always helps get me where I need to go when I have a driver!  ;)

 

Anyway, the trip took longer than anticipated because of some weird issue with my friend's baby registry, so Trevor took Banner to the photo studio to have his picture made.  Here are some of the gems:

 

My baby is growing up way too fast!

Yes, I know Easter was two weeks ago...

It just occurred to me that it is (suddenly) mid-April and I haven’t blogged about Easter (I know, #soslow, #bloggerfail). I am perpetually behind, so this is nothing new. Except I do feel like I should mention that this is my busiest time of the year at work. Not an excuse, really, because no part of my job description mandates that I be on top of blogging. It is just that I’m exhausted, and watching old episodes of Big Bang Theory on the couch with the hubs at night is much more preferable than trying to figure out how to construct a proper sentence about whatever happened to me lately (i.e. not much). And I’m not saying this in an effort to appease my readership. Mainly because I don’t believe that I have one. I'm saying all this to appease myself when I look back on my blog in six months or three years and chastise myself for not blogging about whatever I forgot. Because I totally do that. ALL THE TIME.

Also, I had an above average number of posts in March, but most had very little in the way of content. I tried to make up for this by posting a nauseating number of photos. But I know the truth. I was just being lazy.

But back to Easter. It was fabulous. Banner had an egg hunt at his school on Maundy Thursday. I couldn’t attend (work), but Grammy Pammy stopped by and endured the very specific kind of chaos that occurs when multiple classrooms of toddlers are released in a controlled space outdoors with buckets, baskets and plastic eggs.

Aside: we stuffed eggs with bits of gram cracker and fiddlesticks during the mock Easter egg hunts in Lampasas. Banner got the idea pretty quickly that there was FOOD inside those multicolored eggs, and would walk to one, sit down, open it and feast upon whatever goody was hidden inside. But, at the school hunt, only SOME of the eggs contained food. Most had stickers, bubbles and small toys. When he opened these, he carefully removed everything looking for something edible. He was totally disappointed. Apparently, my child is food motivated.

Also. The Easter Bunny? Yeah, Banner is not a big fan:

He just stared at the bunny like WTF the whole time.

Then, on Holy Saturday, we took Banner to Brook Hollow for a special Easter brunch for kiddos. Not only was there a LARGE egg hunt, but a petting zoo, train ride, face painting station and pony rides. It was like a kiddy nirvana. Banner was especially fascinated by the baby goats. They let me feed them, and he wanted to help. Sweet boy. He was a little terrified of the piglets, which were burrowed under a pile of hay in their pen. One of the workers tried to wake one up, and the piglet started squealing so loudly that they quickly shoved him back in the hay just to shut him up. After that, Banner kept a watchful eye on the piglet box.

The egg hunt took place over in the front lawn, and had dividers for the various age groups. This was the first hunt where Banner didn’t stop and open each egg has he “found” it. I guess he learned at his hunt at school that not all of the eggs would have yummy things inside. Instead, he cruised around and picked up about fifteen eggs before plopping down to open each individually.

And, yes.  His pants are being held up by a shoelace from Trevor's old running shoes.  We are classy that way.

After the hunt, Banner had sort of reached his “I need a nap” limit, and would cry every time we attempted to take his bucket away from him (he kept spilling the contents all over the place). He slept nearly three hours after we got home. IT WAS AWESOME.

Easter Sunday again found us back out at Brook Hollow with the family for lunch. Since our reservation was at 12:30, we skipped church (I know, gasp!) in order to get a partial nap in before heading out in public. Banner generally goes down for a nap around 11:30-12:30 and sleeps anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Since lunch coincided with this, we opted to get up early with Banner, wear his little a$$ out and then get him down for an hour around 10:30.

Of course, 10:30 AM is the same time that our church services begin, but we decided that Jesus would understand that we were only skipping in order to have some quality time with the family at lunch without an overly exhausted and cranky toddler. And, you know what? It worked like a charm! Totally worth it. Banner was all smiles for the family!

Chasing the BIG kids.

Thanks in part to the pre-lunch nap, Banner had LOADS of energy and didn't really want to stay put in the confines of the high chair while everyone else finished lunch.  So, the adults took turns taking Banner outside to run around and play.  He LOVES other children, but doesn't really understand how to initiate play.  The result is that Banner simply follows the big kids around and mimics everything they do.  We they run, he runs.  When they laugh, he laughs.  I've said it before, but Banner probably wishes he was someone's little brother (although, I'm guessing emulating the other kids is a fairly classic toddler learning behavior).  Except, said big kids at the club on Easter Sunday seemed annoyed by Banner's presence.  One little boy (about 3) came storming up to me and demanded to know why "that baby keeps following me everywhere!"  Part of me was amused (seriously, dude?  He can't possibly be bothering you!), while another part was sad that these older kids simply wouldn't let Banner be a part of their fun. 

Luckily, Banner had no idea that the other kids didn't want him around, and was happy just to be NEAR them.  Still, it kind of broke my heart to see my son rejected.  I know it is stupid.  The mama bear in me just can't help it. 

(Although, I'm counting it as a victory that I didn't tell that three year old brat to shove it.  At least not out loud.  I totally thought it, though.)

Guess who is the first - and ONLY - grandchild on both sides of the family.

Afterwards, Banner passed out in the car on the way home. Since it was cool, we let him continue to sleep in the car (parked safely in our attached garage) while we ran inside to change clothes, tend to the dogs and restock the diaper bag before heading over to Trevor’s mom’s house for Easter Sunday Part II. More good food, family and YET ANOTHER EGG HUNT later, we returned home exhausted (but happy) and just in time to catch the season premiere of Game of Thrones. It was a very good and VERY FULL day.

(Especially since Trevor's stepbrother's sons, ages 11 and 13, were more than happy to play with Banner at Gran's house.  Bless them!)

The weird thing about all the egg hunts we did with Banner this season is that – all of a sudden – Easter is over. It has got to be a little confusing for a kid. For days and days, you hunt eggs and get the hang of things, and then…well, it’s over. His Easter bucket is back in storage, the plastic eggs donated to a local charity that hosts a hunt for disadvantaged kiddos every year - even most of the candy is gone (not that Banner got to eat any of that). Part of me almost wishes that I had held on to a few eggs so we could continue to randomly have mini hunts in the backyard. Banner really seemed to enjoy the concept, and – to be honest – I’m a little sad the holiday has already come and gone. It seems like last week we were ringing in Banner’s first birthday, and – BAM! – it is almost tax day already.