A Lesson in Easter Eggs

This past weekend was pretty much constant best friend fun.  Donovan, Ethan's best buddy, lives down the street and Ethan recently learned to walk/run/shovel/robot-boogie to Donovan's house to collect him for playdates.  (Ethan also recently began checking the mail by himself.)  Oh, I love this independent guy.  I hope he has enough impulse control to stop and look before he runs across every street, but I think it is good work (for both him and me) to practice just letting him do his own thing, without calling warnings and directions after him as he runs.

Play between E + D is smooth these days.  They find all sorts of creative ways to meet both of their needs.  For example, Ethan at one point wanted to play Rescue Bots and Donovan preferred racing cars.  Solution: the Rescue Bots can have cars for kids!  Turns out children are really excellent problem-solvers if you give them a chance.

Other sweet things about these guys: They crack each other up with goofy moves and funny voices.  They tell each other about their recent discoveries and creations (D: These are my robot decorations!  E: I have Optimus Prime on my toothbrush!).  Most of the time they talk about thier frustrations before Ethan headlocks Donovan.  

When Donovan comes over, I mostly hang out in the kitchen with Sam while they do their awesome kid-friend thing.

Easter Eggs Round #1:

One choice activity this weekend was dyeing Easter Eggs.  My natural tendency is to try to control every move Ethan makes.  I have been working on this ALOT in the last couple of years.  Embracing chaos and letting him experiment, explore and discover requires constant tongue-biting on my part.  Fortunately, despite all my hovering and correcting, I haven't totally killed Ethan's curiosity and creativity yet.  So the practice of accepting his own unique work continues.  Can I say again how amazed I am that Ethan continues to be the prefect/most challenging teacher for me?

Anyway, an activity such as egg dyeing, with so much potential for crafty perfection and/or a huge mess, sets my controlling gears in motion.   When Donovan joyfully plopped green in all the dye baths both Ethan and I let out a little shreik.  This is not per protocol!  We quickly recovered our wits and let the dye experienments continue.  The eggs came out beautifully, of course, but more importantly they were the boys' own, personal work, not the creations of a mommy puppet master.  These eggs remind me how important it is to let the kids do their own work.  So many of the perfect mommy-blog creations out there are the result of the crafty parent dictating exactly how the kids makes art.  For once, not here! 

 

Easter Eggs Round #2:

Today while Ethan was at pre-school I bought some Easter supplies and hatched a grand plan.  I would put together all the cute little eggs full of treats and stickers and toys, late at night when Ethan was asleep.  I would hide them by myself and oh how surprised and delighted he and his friends would be when they opened them on Easter morning! 

But then I gave Ethan an advance on the Easter goodies: Lego stickers in a giant Easter egg.  He begged for me to show him all of the treats and to let him help make the eggs for his buddies.  Instead of Jody's hard work rewarded with Ethan's appreciation and love, he would prefer to work together and do something kind and generous for his friends?  Obviously I said yes.  But I also felt a little bit robbed of my glory.  I was trying to be the star of the show!

So, we crafted together for an hour before dinner and made of the cutest Easter eggs ever.  Highlights include: Dad egg, zebra egg, cracked egg, porcupine egg, and smiling egg.  Way better than anything I could have come up with.