The Seasons Are Changing

Charley completely shocked me today. We were at the Navy Exchange doing a little shopping, and I noticed that they had a picture area set up for the Easter bunny. I thought that the kids might enjoy waving at the bunny from a safe distance, so we milled around for a few minutes waiting for his arrival. Charley was SO excited when he finally showed up, and she immediately started begging to talk to the Easter bunny. I told her just to wave and say "hi", which she did several times, but she still wasn't satisfied. She wanted to TALK to the bunny. I glanced over at the picture line and noticed several children already in line dancing around excitedly waiting to see the bunny. At this point, I knew the only way that she was going tobe able to talk to the bunny (without making a bunch of other parents mad) was to stand in line and get a picture with him. I immediately had nightmarish flashback to just a few months ago . . .

And no, that is not a smile on Zander or Charley's face.

I asked Charley repeatedly if she was SURE she wanted to talk to the bunny, and she said she "really really really" did. I explained to her that she would have to sit on his lap, get her picture taken, and most importantly, she could not cry. She promised that she wouldn't be scared, but I was still skeptical. However, after accepting my fate, my mind then switched to typical Mommy mode, when I started thinking about how I had not dressed them up in Easter attire that day and wondering if their outfits were too lame for the picture. I looked at Zander and immediately noticed cowlicks sticking up everywhere, so I used the lovely method of spit and fingers to plaster them down to his head. I wiped the yogurt raisin remnants off his face, and made sure he didn't have any obvious boogers hanging out. That was as good as he was going to get. I glanced down at Charley, who was spinning around in circles and yelling, "Is it our turn, is it our turn, is it our turn?!?" Her hair was frizzing out in all directions, and every time I would try to flatten it down, she would spin around some more and the hair would fly out to where it was before. I gave up, and decided the pictures would just have to do, no matter how they turned out.

There were only a couple people in front of us, and at first the line moved rather quickly. But of course I got stuck right behind one of THOSE moms who acts like the bunny photo is being taken in a professional studio. . . not happy with the first five shots so she wants more taken, doesn't like how the picture is centered so can they please fix it on the computer, not sure whether she likes pose six or seven better, can they please show her close-ups of each one . . . I wanted to yell "come on already!" Those poor ladies running the camera and computer were trying to accommodate, but come on, they aren't professional photographers and that entire $17.94 that is being spent on the photo package is not worth all this hassle. I thought my kids were going to bust out of their seams they were so excited during this painful time of waiting. Charley was dancing and jumping around the entire time, squealing with impatience and delight. Zander was squirming in my arms during the entire wait, ready to sprint for either the door or the bunny, I couldn't tell which. But I didn't want them to go see the bunny until the absolute LAST MINUTE, when the picture ladies were ready to take the picture, because I had no idea what was going to happen. I didn't want one second of bravado followed by five minutes of shear terror.

Finally, after about ten minutes with psycho mom in front of me, they were ready to take our picture. I warned the ladies (like I did at Christmas time) just to take whatever picture they could, that I had no grand expectations of my kids and their expressions. At this point, I finally let the kids go see the bunny, and they both sprinted for him as if he would disappear if they weren't fast enough. Zander immediately ran up, dropped his head in the bunny's lap, and gave him a big kiss on his legs. And Charley was not far behind, ready to talk the bunny's ear off. I had my camera out and ready to take pictures, but it all happened so fast I didn't have a chance to take any. Charley, to my utter amazement, climbed right up in the bunny's lap and smiled, repeating the obligatory "cheese" over and over again. So I quickly shoved Zander into his lap while I had this small window of opportunity, and Zander was immediately annoyed that I would so such a thing. However, he never really cried, but rather just reached out and sadly said "Momma, momma, momma" over and over again, as if he was begging me not to abandon him with this strange furry creature. And the result? Not too bad I would say.