A Long 40 Days Leading to Easter!

Yasay Kids Easter 2014

It just so happened that right before Lent this year, Lissie started to take a very serious liking to church and Mass.  So much so that we decided to put Xavier in the nursery so we could sit front and center at church so she could see all the action and talk to her about everything that is taking place without her brother's distracting screams and cries.

Also, leading up to Lent, her favorite thing to sing at church was the "Alleluia."  She loved all different versions, and we would sing it at home - often right before bedtime.  It was her favorite song.

Which is why I knew that she would be very interested in Lent and "burying the Alleluia."   She enjoyed using her countdown calendar to note how many more days were left until she could sing "Alleluia" again.  She looked forward to her tri-weekly Lenten videos that taught her more about this special season.  And she was very intrigued by the Stations of the Cross that we did every Friday - especially because she had her simplified Montessori version that I made to help her understand Jesus' journey to the Cross in her own way.  Of course, she loved the Fish Fries that she went to afterwards, as well.  Haha.

She was a little too enthusiastic about Easter and tried to jump ahead.

Holy Week has been extra special, too. She made palm crafts with Daddy to mark Passion Sunday. And while we didn't get to go to Mass on Holy Thursday (although I just know she would've loved watching the washing of the feet and the Eucharistic Procession!), she enjoyed going to church twice on Good Friday - once for Adoration with me and Xavier, but again for Good Friday services with Lolo and Lola where she was especially pleased to get to kiss the cross.

Making her own Crown of Thorns on Good Friday

She also had two Easter egg hunts: one at MDO and another at the zoo with her Lolo and Lola.  And, while she was very excited about them and had a blast at both, she kept insisting that we shouldn't celebrate Easter because "it's just not Easter yet, Mommy!"

Eagerly awaiting his first egg hunt!

Getting the hang of it.

Mommy, these eggs are empty.  What's the point?

An egg hunting pro!

Sibling Love

Loving Lola

Lissie and friends and their baby siblings

Xavier, Lola, Hippo

Lissie, Lolo, Lion

Too cool for the bunny

And today, Easter Sunday, we started off the day by singing Alleluia when we woke her up for Mass.  We took a quick peek at our Easter baskets before heading off to Mass to rejoice and sing more praises for the Risen Christ.  Lissie loved noting the differences in the church today compared to during Lent.  We continued the celebration by eating way too much at Easter brunch with Lolo and Lola and will continue our rejoicing tonight when Daddy comes home from work with a lovely Easter dinner, complete with Resurrection Rolls.

I can't wait until next year when Xavier will (hopefully!) be ready to begin to understand Lent and Easter, as well! 

Happy Easter!  Christ the Lord has Risen Today!  Alleluia!

Lissie Goes to the Dentist

Some say kids should to go to the dentist as soon as they sprout their first tooth.  Others say by age 1.  Still others say by age 3.  I'm sure there is research to support every one of these arguments, but I was not in any rush to take Lissie to the dentist when I myself am not a fan of going.

But, alas, at Lissie's 3-year well check-up, her pediatrician highly recommended a particular dentist that I had already heard some great things about so we went ahead and made the appointment.

I'm sure it helped that I had my routine dental visit a few weeks earlier, so I had started talking to her a little about what a dentist does.  And it definitely helped that one of Lissie's friends had gone to the dentist, and Lissie enjoyed seeing pictures of it on her mommy's blog.  In fact, all this hype about the dentist made her super excited, and she kept asking when it was her turn to go.

I'll admit that when I perused our dentist's website, I was very nervous about the fact that they don't allow parents back during the procedures.  Their rationale is that it fosters independence and allows the staff to gain a "closer rapport" to the patients.  Knowing my timid daughter who can get separation anxiety just from a routine dropoff at school, I wasn't sure what to expect.

My worries were for naught.  Lissie was bouncing up and down all the way to the dentist's office, and she and Xavier (who was just along for the ride) were enjoying being silly and watching Elmo and reading stories in the waiting room.  As soon as the hygienist  called her name, she dropped what she was doing and ran back.  Not even a glance at me to say good-bye.  Phew.

After just a few minutes, they called us back to tell us that she did absolutely awesome during the initial cleaning, and we were free to take the obligatory pics and play video games in the kid room while we waited on the dentist.  The final report was that everything looked great, and they'll just see us again in six months!

Lissie loved it so much that she has asked every day to go back.  It might be a long six months, haha.

Oh, and we decided to make a fun morning out of it and went to Cheekwood afterwards for Tuesdays for Tots and to just enjoy the beautiful spring day.

Yay!