The Number Field

We're all recovering from a big Easter weekend which took all of us, especially Elena, off our normal schedule. We had a good time, and just one or two days and nights of good sleep and regular naps should make everything better.

Elena got to take part in three Easter egg hunts, but despite our hopes she's not entirely into them. The first was a large community activity in Buda (we were last there for Independence Day) on Saturday morning. Elena really liked her basket, and also wanted to hold onto the eggs. She didn't really have a vision of picking up eggs and putting them into her basket, although when we held them out to her she would sometimes take them from us and put them into the basket.

The event had several other activities that Elena found more interesting. Even though we had to wait line for the petting zoo, it was worth it. Elena's experience with farm animals comes exclusively from books, and even the "touch and feel" variety don't hold a candle to real goats, chicks, and bunnies.

Elena wanted to go in the bouncy castle, but we thought she was too young. She did enjoy the "train" ride, which was an ingenious assembly of fifty-gallon water buckets on wheels, attached to a lawn tractor. We thought about getting her face painted but decided against it because it didn't fit our plans for taking bluebonnet pictures on the way home.

On Sunday morning, we found baskets from the Easter bunny. Mine had two new ties in it, and Elena found some of her favorite things: necklaces and headbands. Jenny and I left her in the front room to play while we worked on breakfast, but after a few minutes passed things got suspiciously quiet in there. We returned to find her sitting with an open easter egg, scooping Reese's pieces into her mouth as quickly as possible. After that, she wanted candy all day long.

At lunchtime, we went to a cookout and easter egg hunt with some friends. I made German potato salad; although Jenny had some doubts, she agreed that it turned out well. Our host grilled up the usual burgers and sausages, but also included sliced beets and sweet potatoes in the mix. They were surprisingly good. Also, we thought that Elena's candy discovery from the morning would inspire her to go after the eggs a little bit more, but it wasn't to be.

We shared Easter dinner at Jenny's brother's house, with lots of kids, including Elena's cousins. Jenny and I fulfilled our longstanding duty of being the egg hiders for the hunt we had there, but even with the advantage of our help, Elena's level of interest stayed the same. Just after the egg hunt was over, we lined all the kids up against the fence so we could take some pictures. Elena lost interest before we were done, and noticed a basket full of eggs that an older girl had set down nearby. She decided to try to abscond with it. We noticed, and thought that this must have been her plan all along: to get the big kids to do the dirty work, then take the candy for herself.

The weather was so nice that we just enjoyed some pleasant time out in the yard. Even though she doesn't try to interact with them too much, Elena loves being around older kids. She had a great time toddling and crawling around, hiding in the playscape, and figuring out how to get into and out of a fun toy car.

On Monday morning we had one more activity that was outside the norm: Elena's appointment with the geneticist. At the present time, I don't want to share too much about the visit. I can confirm that going to the doctor for anything other than a normal checkup gives me a serious case of parentoia * . The doctor described her job as detective work--there are many clues, but few smoking guns.

As part of the visit, the doctor ordered some blood work. By the time they called us back into the exam room Elena was showing signs of being tired and hungry. She had a good time looking out the window until the technicians came in. The primary tech was friendly and extremely competent, but the most amazing thing was that Elena didn't mind the needle stick at all. She sat through it without a peep, as if it was nothing unusual, even though they had to fill up several vials. I could feel my heart pounding as I held her on my lap, so I'm very proud of my little girl.

After that, Jenny dropped me off at school and took Elena home for a good long nap, the first step in getting her back on schedule.

* Whenever I think I've come up with a unique and funny turn of phrase, I look it up on Google and find that someone else has already done it.