Hello Sweet Sleeping Bee, and Happy Forty-Five Months! This last month has been so full as we’ve been sampling all the joys of spring in Savannah. Where to start?

With Easter! The fun began with an Easter Egg Hunt at church, as you and your church buddies plucked eggs from the tulip beds, dashing around Orleans Square to fill your baskets.

Then, you had an Easter Egg Hunt at school, which didn’t go quite as well. For whatever reason, we parents evoked nothing but tears from you and your classmates on the day of your Easter party. Some of us came to the party to help hide the eggs and serve lunch, and nearly every child who had a parent present was inconsolable at some point. You didn’t want to do anything without me by your side (very touching, yet impractical), and refused to take part in the Easter Hat Parade.

I had to laugh when, during circle time, several of you were crying and your teacher said, “I know many of you are sad because your parents are here…” It was as if we had come to shame and humiliate you all! I thought that wouldn’t happen until high school!

Sigh.

Surprisingly, things went much better than expected on a trip to the mall that same week. You didn’t want to have your picture taken with the Easter Bunny, but wanted some of the bunny ear hats that the photographer was giving away. So you agreed to give the bunny a high-five. And then that high-five turned into a hug. And then before I knew it you exclaimed, “I DO want to have my picture made with the Easter Bunny!” and my wallet got significantly lighter. But how could I say no to your first Easter Bunny picture? You were quite proud of yourself for being so brave, and so was I!

Easter weekend, we continued the tradition of dyeing eggs at Boo’s house in anticipation of the Easter Day Hunt.

Easter morning, you were very excited to find your basket from The Bunny, with your much-anticipated spider toy. I’m not sure exactly why you decided you needed a spider, but you’ve been asking for one for quite some time. I wonder how many other little girls asked the Easter bunny for a spider?

The Bunny tried not to fill your basket with too many sweets, but knew you’d love this marshmallow owl. When I took this picture, I couldn’t help but mentally caption it, “The moment she got her first cavity.” Let’s hope not.

The family Easter Egg Hunt was a lot of fun, and you even found one of the prize eggs. The weather was perfect for a picnic outside, including cookies with icing because the marshmallow owl wasn’t enough sugar for one day.  

The next weekend, we headed to Ottawa Farms for the annual Strawberry Festival and picked a huge bucketful of beautiful, ripe strawberries. Last year you had your very first pony ride at this festival. Here you were then:

And here you were this year, not nervous at all, happily riding atop Miss Prissy.

This has also been a great month for playdates with good buddies. You met up with two of your school friends at a barn, dressed appropriately in your cowgirl boots and hat. The three of you spent the morning running around, pretending to be animals and playing in the hay barn. I just loved the pictures we captured that day.

Last weekend we visited your buddies Nia and Nate in Winder, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you play so happily with other kids. You just adore them both, which is a good thing because I do too.

You went to your first Sand Gnats game of the season this month, and enjoyed strolling to the stadium hand-in-hand with your buddy Sam. Unfortunately, on the way there you stumbled and s
kinned your knees. As you were crying and I was comforting you, Sam snapped off a branch of beautiful pink azaleas and brought them to you. He’s been well trained!

Although you still have many moments of shyness, you have been quite a ham at times this month too, if the mood is right. We shot our first episode of “Cooking with Camille,” and I think we both had a lot of fun with the project. This month your Daddy also introduced you to a microphone, and the two of you have been preforming rock concerts in the guest bedroom most nights. I named your band The Camtastics.

Before you perform, I have to close the door so you and your Daddy can decide on a song to sing. Then when you’re ready, the door opens (much like a curtain on a stage) and the show begins. Tonight you were performing a song you wrote yourself called “Dance With a Ukulele.”

You’ve passed another big developmental milestone this month. Or to be honest, you probably passed it last month, but I was slow to accept the fact that you’re giving up your nap. For several weeks you’d sleep less and less during naptime, and I’d spend more and more time chasing you back into your room. I was certain you still needed to sleep, but I finally grew tired of the chase. Our compromise was that you still had to spend an hour in your room by yourself, but didn’t have to stay in bed. You could play quietly.

This has actually worked out very well. Your favorite thing to do is draw in preschool workbooks, tracing letters and numbers and solving puzzles. How could I argue with that?

You also like to have books in your bed for company, and lately many of them have featured volcanoes. I’m not entirely sure how this love of volcanoes began – you came home from school one day drawing triangles and talking about volcanic eruptions, which progressed into a trip to the library to find volcano books.

At the library, we found the children’s nonfiction area and you gasped upon spotting a hardback book with an image of fiery lava erupting from the top of a volcano. We picked it up, along with a few others, and then got in line to check them out. Too excited to wait, you sat on the floor and started flipping through the books. Each turn of a page was punctuated by “WOW!” or “WHOA!” or “Mama! Look at that volcano!” I was amused when you confused the term lava with “saliva,” as though the volcano were drooling down its own chin. But I have no doubt that very soon you’ll know all sorts of facts about volcanoes because you love to learn.

So, pretty full month, wouldn’t you agree? And a very, very good one. Thanks for sharing your adventures with me. I love you so very much.