happy easter, y'all

When celebrating the resurrection of Christ, the appropriate party hat has two ears and fake fur.  That's in Leviticus somewhere.

I also wrangled my victims family into a group photo after church.  We were all a bit exhausted and/or disintegrating into puddles of allergies... but I figure it should be documented every now and then that the two children exist in the context of their parents, so I insisted.  Here we go-- the family unit:

He's risen!
Me, though... I'm down for the count.  Naps for us all, today!
May y'all have a restful and blessed Easter.

artistic eggspression

I am accustomed to Josephine taking her handiwork rather seriously.  As it turns out, she doesn't hold a candle to Clement.
I took away an egg from Clement before he was done painting it and the boy started channeling Jesus in the temple with the money changers.  In his hysteria he chunked an egg, tried to bite me (he's never done that!) and it was all I could manage to keep him from knocking the bowls of dye onto the floor.

Note to self: ASK FIRST NEXT TIME.

I took a short video of the art process:  Click here.

We used this dye kit from Whole Foods that was all natural-- annatto and radish and cabbage.

 My kitchen table is now stained very natural shades of annatto and radish and cabbage.

The final products:

They're quite proud of them!  I am too.  I enjoy watching those two create, even in all their serious fury!
(It did end with tears on Clement's behalf though.  It turns out he is NEVER READY TO BE DONE. GET AWAY FROM ME, WOMAN!  LEAVE ME IN PEACE WITH MY EGGS, AND DO NOT PUT BOUNDARIES ON WHAT ITEMS I CAN PAINT ANNATTO.)

...He's still such a darling little guy.  But every now and then I see these bursts where sweet infanthood is giving way into that more headstrong toddler phase...  To be expected, of course, but still a little surprising when it starts up.

zilker

The botanical gardens had a fairy house installation along some trails, so Josephine and Clement and I met up with Lucy and Cas (in his Easter Crown, in case you were wondering) and their lovely mommy to go exploring.

The little structures were pretty cute in all their details.  Looking forward to finding these in my backyard now.

Lovely day, good temperature, the raindrops held off.  We had a pleasant time burning off some energy.

it's a wonder no one cracked a skull.
cute photo op, though!

sweet, soulful Casimir

Clement prefered Cas on the bench (and oh, you should have seen is bashfully proud little grin when Lucy sat next to him!) but I did eek out a couple with him and Josephine together:

he toddles!

Took him 20.5 months to get strong enough and brave enough, but Clement's giving it a go!

Click on this sentence to see a short video.

We were all present for his first few steps, which none of us expected, including himself.  Sean was showing me how he was doing better standing on his own (without doing the drop-and-laugh-hysterically game).  At one point Clement decided he was done standing, and he started leaning towards Sean to catch him.  But something in his brain clicked and started moving his feet moving under him, and voila!  True self-transport resulted.  He seemed as tickled as we were.  So proud!  There has been much rejoicing, and I still can't believe the day has finally come!

death by bluebonnets

Clement's still working on his English.  I think he confused bluebonnet with bubonic and thought we were trying to kill him.  So this is basically what happened:

Me:  Josephine, try sitting over there.  Smile for me!  Awesome.  This will work fine.

  

Me:  Clement, Dad's going to put you next to Josephine-- okay?  See the pretty bluebonnets?  We're taking pictures with bluebonnets!!

Clement: ...uuuuhhhhhhhhh... really not okay with this, guys.  pretty sure this stuff killed about 25 million people in the mid-1300s.

Clement:  This is definitely the stuff that did those people in.  See this leaf?  I'm sure of it.  

Me:  Clement, SMIIIIIILE.  We love bluebonnets!

Clement:  I'm dyyyying.  You can't DO this to me!  I'm too YOUNG to die!  WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME???????

Josephine's expression:  [Why won't he SHUT UP??]

Me:  Josephine, you just try to smile anyway.  You're doing great.  

Clement:  How can you smile at a time like this??  We must escape NOW!

Clement:  Fine!  Suit yourself!  Sit there -- smirk all you want -- but I'm out of here!

Clement:  Mother, you BETRAYED ME.  But I need you.  Please hold me now.

Me:  Clement, grrrr.  Go to Dad.  Josephine, how old are you?

Josephine:  I'm FIVE!!

Me:  Josephine, say "Dad is a silly goose."

Josephine:  DAD IS A SILLY GOOSE!

Me:  Say "I love ice cream!"

Josephine:  I LOVE ICE CREAM!!

Disclaimer:  All torment was short-lived.  No redheads were [permanently] damaged in the taking of these photos.  

Parent-child trust has been re-established (ice cream and strawberries helped).  

Most importantly, Texan tradition has been instilled on an abiding and profound level.  Priorities, People.  Priorities.