April 17, 2003 - 9:14 p.m.

Easter Fun and Difficult Discipline

As you can see, we dyed eggs today! I really like the way the marbled ones turned out even if I did get the idea from the Martha Stewart show. Decorating Easter eggs is one of my favorite holiday traditions from my family. Over the years we have developed all sorts of techniques for making pretty eggs. We used to do crayon resist, layering, painting, and even splattering. I don't think we ever consciously competed, but at least Mom and I were always trying to come up with new ideas to see how unique we could make our eggs. In the past I have hosted egg decorating parties so that I can continue to enjoy the pastime. Holiday crafts are the perfect marriage of my affinity for tradition and my love of all things creative.

Egg decorating was a lot of fun, but the day did not start off well. B was playing with some toy fire trucks when I got upstairs and he refused to get dressed. I have been trying to encourage/enforce his independence so I refused to dress him. I warned him that if he didn't get started I would go ahead and go downstairs when the girls were ready with or without him. I also took away the toys. He stormed off to his room, and I did end up going down to get the girls started with breakfast. B came down and declared he would eat and then get dressed which I wouldn't allow since he is a really poky eater. So he said he hated me and that I am stupid, which I ignored, and went back upstairs. A few minutes later I went up to check on him, and, to my relief, he agreed to put his clothes on with minimal help from me. I hate this kind of situation because I get caught between a rock and a hard place. We have a very limited amount of time (about an hour) for the kids to get dressed, breakfasted, and ready for school. Under different circumstances I would just leave him in his room until he got dressed, but I cannot in conscience risk sending him off to school without breakfast. So, I don't know what I would do if he really balked and continued to refuse to get dressed. Luckily he doesn't like being left alone, so my tactic of heading down to the kitchen with the girls has worked so far. It stressed me out, though, since I seriously dislike not being confident about my discipline choices. Anyway, that was probably utterly boring to all of you, but I felt like venting. :)

On a much happier note, Sam is coming to visit! He'll be coming up after his finals in May and will be here for almost four whole days. I am very excited. It will be nice to be together on our old turf. Charlottesville is very much his territory, but we have loads of favorite places and memories up here. We already have plans to go to EVOO to celebrate the completion of his first year of law school. My mouth is already watering in anticipation! It is a pricey "New American" restaurant, but has probably the best food I have ever had, so it is worth it. Sam took me there as a Christmas present our second year together, and we totally pigged out. It'll also be nice to get dressed up and go on a real date together. As much as we enjoy hanging out together and doing more casual things like hiking, going to the park and feeding the ducks, and cooking, it is a very nice change to plan the occasional more formal outing. He might even wear his new suit. I am trying to resist the temptation to look for a new dress for the occasion.

today's project: so many colors, so many eggs!

musing about: how to make the next three weeks pass quickly

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flutter back - fly ahead