Little R's Second Easter

What's Easter?

Even though I'm not religious, Easter is a big deal in our household. I focus on the rabbit and candy aspect (two of my very favorite things). This was little R's second Easter, and just like last year, her grandmother got her a new Easter dress. She also got four stuffed rabbits (she already has a lot of them: maybe 7?, so it's going to be a bunny city in her room before too long), a book, and a chocolate rabbit (there were jelly beans too, but I ate them before Easter came: oops!).

She ate an entire chocolate rabbit by herself for breakfast (along with her usual Cheerios and banana), covering the new Easter dress with chocolate leavings. Luckily we had a back-up Easter outfit. I planned to go to the zoo, but a torrential rainstorm forced a change of plan. Instead, we headed off to the Singapore Science Centre. I was a little worried that R would be too young to enjoy it, but she loved it and had a great time wandering around trying out the hands-on activities.

Learning about visual illusions	Watching a swimming turtle
Experimenting with gears	Playing with the Theremin machine
Turning sound into light	Making music

Little R loves people watching

After we finished at the museum, we headed off to a nearby mall. We thought that it would be uncrowded, as it only opened only a few days ago, and many stores were not yet open. But we reckoned by American standards.

In Singapore, malls are HUGE. The joke is that the national sport is shopping, funny both because Chinese people are completely unathletic, and because shopping really is an obsession here. A new one opening up, even in a fairly remote location, was thus a major event and apparently the highlight of the weekend.

It was a madhouse. The biggest draw was the ice rink; at least a thousand people must have been watching the (not-very-good) skaters, packed several-deep around the entire perimeter. Skating must seem really exotic when you live near the equator!

It's Easter!

Easter is one of my favorite holidays, because I love rabbits and jelly beans. When I was a kid, my parents would always make us big baskets full of all kinds of candy and hide them in the house, with a trail of jelly beans leading to the spot. Then we had large quantities of candy for breakfast (and at least one hardboiled dyed egg, which we were required to eat as a small concession to health).

I also love Easter because it marks the coming of spring, which is my favorite season. I love seeing the wildflowers, the fresh green grass (especially exciting in California, where the grass all turns brown in the summer due to lack of rainfall), and the nesting birds. Everything feels clean and new and hopeful, and the world is full of possibility. I like the fact that every day is longer than the next as the hours of sunlight increase.

Since I have a rabbit obsession, I always buy Easter cards and send them to all my relatives. I did it this year too; for little R I bought the fabulous The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, even though she won't be listening to any book (let alone reading) for quite a while. This book features a little brown girl rabbit, who defies racism, sexism and classism to rise to become one of the Easter Bunnies, even though she is a single mother of 21 children. I have always loved this book so much, and am excited to share it with R once she is old enough.

My mother gave R a darling little Easter dress, complete with a crinoline skirt. Now that she is a little bit older, she looks exactly like a living Kewpie doll (multiple people have commented on this) and it was so fun to dress her, including a little headband and bow, and tiny patent leather shoes. At times like this I am very glad I have a girl. Their clothes are so much cuter!