A hole in the head/ One-eyed Brig

Today was an exciting day because little Eric lost his second AND third tooth! I'm glad the kids are on spring break this week, because they both came out this morning, and there's nothing cuter than the look on the face of a kid who's just lost a tooth. As you can see from the picture (taken by our new computer!), he's very proud. And you may notice Brigham's latest development too- the eye patch. The eye doctor says he needs to wear it for three hours a day, indefinitely...could be a few months, could be a year. At first I felt bad for him, both because he looks so pitiful and because he's almost blind in the other eye. But then I took him to preschool with it on (he's supposed to wear it during the time of day he uses his eyes the most), and within seconds, every boy in the class was crowded around him and worshipfully questioning him about the patch, which was camouflage that day. Apparently, it's way cool to wear a giant band-aid over your eye when you're four years old. He explained that he has a clear eye and a fuzzy eye, and the clear eye never lets fuzzy do any work, so he has to cover him up, to make fuzzy work and get strong. He's been an incredibly good sport about the whole thing.
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In other kid-related news, the boys both got accepted to the year-round school in town, which is supposed to be wonderful, and a big step up from our neighborhood school. This is a HUGE relief, since I'd decided that if they didn't get into another school, I'd homeschool them. The neighborhood school is that bad. We're excited about the year-round schedule, which means they'll be in school during the miserable months of July and August, and have vacation during September and October, which are the two best months of the year in North Carolina.

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Is it weird that several of my "heroes" are characters from children's books? When I'm fifty, I want to be Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter...when I'm 80, the skin horse from the Velveteen Rabbit. And right now I would have to say I aspire to be the Cottontail rabbit from the Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes. The book was written in 1939 by Du Bose Heyward, who wrote, among other things, the book that became the musical Porgy and Bess. It's the story of a little brown country bunny who dreams of one day becoming one of the five Easter bunnies who carry the eggs to children all over the world on Easter morning. Here's a quote:

The little girl Cottontail grew up to be a young lady Cottontail. And by and by she had a husband and then one day, much to her surprise there were twenty-one Cottontail babies to take care of.

The the big white rabbits and the Jacks with long legs laughed and laughed, and they said, "What did we tell you! Only a country rabbit would go and have all those babies. Now take care of them and leave Easter eggs to great big men bunnies like us." And they went away liking themselves very much.

In the end, Cottontail gets her chance to prove herself, and, surprise, surprise- raising twenty-one children has taught her a thing or two. This book is basically what it means to me to be a feminist. It's a tribute to motherhood as the experience of a lifetime and an incredible opportunity for growth that cannot be matched by all the degrees and work experience in the world. I may be "just a stay-at-home mom", but one day I'll be able to take all the incredible lessons I've learned and will learn from being a wife and mother and I'll show those Jack rabbits!

Another thing I love about the story is its embodiment of the truth that sometimes we give everything we have and it's just not enough. And that's when a loving Heavenly Father steps in and gives us our little gold shoes.

Happy Easter!