Happy Birthday, Shawn!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHAWN!

Again, there was no rush to get out of the house this morning. I did think ahead last night and left the blinds and curtains in Shawn's room open so the sun could wake him naturally rather than me doing it. It worked nicely. Even though he had a very hard time going to sleep last night knowing that today was his birthday, he woke an hour earlier than normal and, most importantly, smiling and in a great mood! He was even awake early enough to see Raj off to work. Shawn's breakfast wasn't photo worthy this morning, but he was thrilled to have blue eggs and muffins (fudge and chocolate chip).


Once everyone was fed and ready to go, we headed to the Children's Garden at Morton Arboretum.  After coming almost half a dozen times already this year, I went ahead and got a membership to the Arboretum. If I had gotten it earlier, it would've almost paid for itself by now! Oh, well. We'll keep coming back. Maybe one day, we'll actually see what else is there besides the Children's Garden! Not today, though.


Shawn and Abby knew exactly where they wanted to go (usually together), while Opa and I tried to keep track of them. They worked their way through the Backyard Discovery Gardens and the Adventure Woods. In the Discovery Gardens, I think their favorites are the Curiosity Garden with a small waterfall and polished bronze frogs spitting water into a pool of smooth rocks as well as a tunnel and bridge that leads to two log cabin play houses and Every Which Way which is a playground looking area with a mass of cement tree roots to hide beneath, steep slides with a mulched cork wall to climb, a water pump to operate and guide the water down multi-tiered canals (though the pump has been removed), and a play structure with rain sticks to spin and a Plexiglas dome to ogle through. Of course, every single garden area also had a bright red water pump that was irresistible. They had no hesitation to stand directly under the spout while the other pumped the handle - possible trying to get a drink, but get doused in the process! (It's a good thing it was warm and dry today. I'm sure the water pumps helped cool them off.) In the Adventure Woods, their favorites were the Wonder Pond, which is swarming with tadpoles (and people trying to get a closer look at them), the tree house / rope net bridges that make up Under the Trees, the man-made Grotto and Secret Stream (though Opa and I would cringe every time a child would splash a small boulder into the water, hoping that no toes or fingers would be squashed in the process), and the Evergreen Walk and Lookout with another tree house / rope net bridge that led to view finders and staged critters in the trees. We stopped for a snack and drink break at the Lookout point before working our way back out of the Children's Garden. We did stop at the Central Plaza to marvel at the giant ball of granite (approximately three feet in diameter) with various leaves carved into the sides and spinning on a fountain of water. The kids had fun trying to change its rotation and felt very strong when they were successful.

Back at the car, we had another snack and changed the kids into clean, dry clothes. I was absolutely certain that they would be snoring by the time we drove out of the parking lot, but they were still chatting away when I made a detour to pick up some newsletters for Mothers & More. Abby was fast asleep minutes later, while Shawn somehow stayed awake the entire drive home! I was even able to transfer Abby to bed without waking her at all. An hour later, I let Shelley know that Abby probably wouldn't be waking on her own at her usual time because of the extensive outdoor playing we had done, so unless she needed to be awake, there was no reason to rush home to pick her up by 4:00 pm. Shelley agreed and said to let her sleep. Bill came to get her at 5:30 pm and she reluctantly woke from her three hour nap.


In the evening, we walked to our local Frontier League baseball game to see the Schaumburg Boomers play the River City Rascals.  We picked a spot to sit on our picnic blanket at the top of a hill in the lawn.  Nearby was a kids’ area that had a bouncy tent obstacle course and inflatable slides.  Shawn ran through the course dozens of times and used a Boomer’s blanket to add some slip to his his slide.  While he was burning some energy, the New Jersey Hardwicks called to sing him Happy Birthday.  Raj arranged for the announcer to broadcast that it’s Shawn’s third birthday today.  We didn’t catch it displayed on the scoreboard, but we definitely heard it.  The game didn’t end in our favor (L 12-3), but the fireworks show made up for it.  Too bad that Shawn fell asleep moments before the pyrotechnics began.  The incredibly full day exhausted him to the point that he slept through all of the booms and bangs and half of our walk home.  I had hoped he’d stay asleep to I could put him directly to bed, but I knew better.  Shawn had just enough of a rest to keep him up well into the night.

On the plus side, he got to open a few birthday cards when we got home.  One card revealed that we are going to Disney World in a few weeks!

Happy Birthday, Shawn!

Posted on FaceBook:

Having a wonderful day celebrating my little man's 3rd birthday! Happy Birthday, Shawn! We love you so very much! — with Paul Demmert and Rajiv Puri at Schaumburg Boomers.

Mandy Nye, Sara Bellini Pandolfi, Mona Mann, Kristen Weller, Katie Stump Holt, Nicole Roof Robinson, Gina Kawell Snow, Edward Demmert, Reena Uppal, Leslie Demmert, Melissa Rubalcaba Riske, Kenny Thor, Carolyn Wilke Wojtal, Toni Marcinowski LoVerde, Jonathan Demmert, and Evelia Krzysik like this.

Shelley Veloz Powell Happy Birthday Shawn! Hope you guys are having fun!

Leslie Demmert Go Boomers Go doesn't quite ring like go Cubs Go, but I hope they win for you.

Joni Demmert Anderson Happy Birthday Shawn! (PS I like your shirt!)

Melissa Bujak Dresen Happy Birthday little guy

Lorinda Oertel Anderson Happy happy birthday Shawn! Have a fun filled evening ♥ Conrad & Miss Lorinda

Deborah Johnson Clemons Happy Birthday Shawn!!

Sara Bellini Pandolfi happy birthday!

Liz Ri Many sweet Happy Birthday wishes!

Edward Demmert A big happy birthday to Shawn from the CA Demmert's!

Hema Puri Happy Birthday Shawn, God Bless You. We will see you soon.

Bm Bär Happy Birthday, Shawn! Greetings from Germany!

Stacey 'Dunlap' Porter Happy Birthday Shawn! Congrats Shannon -sounds like a lovely time

Debbie Fairbairn-White Happy birthday Shawn. Hope you had a great day.

Mona Mann Hi Shannon wouild u please give Shawn a big hug & some kisses from me tell him I wish him a day fill w/ fun, balloons & a big cake to taste Happy Birthday Shawn I love u bye baby

Shawn’s Mundan

Today was definitely a new experience for me. I've attended similar ceremonies for friends and family, but each one is different and unique, which makes it special. It's always different being an observer than actually participating, too.

We set up an alter in the corner of our living room with plenty of seating for our guests in chairs, on the couches, and on the ground. We learned that it was very important for us to face West during the ceremony. Our pundit was wonderful at explaining the ceremony step by step as he conducted the rituals.

We began with a blessing and prayers to the Hindu Gods. The pundit gave us dots of red powder, Tika, between our eyebrows (Shawn chose not to have one) and tied sacred red threads, called Mauli, around our wrists. (Raj and Shawn wore theirs on their right hands, while I wore mine on my left.) Their significance was warding off evil and attracting good fortune. By placing them around a coconut, we offered water, flowers, and rice to the gods, inviting them to be a part of our special day.

One part that sticks out in my memory is how the pundit described the utmost importance of a child’s parents, holding them higher than all else. He said that parents are a child’s first teachers. Without parents, the child cannot learn properly and therefore does not have knowledge. Without knowledge, the child has no understanding. Without knowledge and understanding, the child cannot know God. Therefore, parents and teachers are the supreme powers in a child’s life.

The second part of the ceremony included actually shaving Shawn’s hair. Before we began, we tied red threads around three sections of his hair, which we then cut with scissors. Then, Kate Yglesias La Casse (who was my hair dresser for years and did my hair for our wedding) did an amazing job wielding her clippers quickly and carefully so that Shawn barely flinched while locks of his hair fell all around. He did a marvelous job while the clippers were buzzing around his head. It helped tremendously that Kate was able to cut his hair pretty quickly. Regardless, he sat very still and didn't fidget. (I was impressed.) We collected his hair along with some of the articles from the puja and were told to save them. When we go to India, we are supposed to offer it to the sacred Ganges River.

While Kate was shaving his head, she uncovered a cut from a fall a few days ago. (Shawn was being silly while in the bathroom and fell off the toilet!) I knew he bumped his head when he fell, but I didn’t realize that it had left such a gash on poor Shawn’s head! Until now, it had been completely covered by hair! At first glance, people thought that the cut was from the Mundan itself, but luckily, it was well into the healing process already.

Then, Shawn had to get cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes. This symbolized starting completely clean. The pundit conducted more prayers and blessings for ‘the new’ Shawn. All the children gathered around a small fire, or Havan, to make more offerings before concluding the Mundan ceremony. We took Prasad, or fruit (apples and bananas) that had been blessed by the Gods, and Raj and I led Shawn to show respect to our loved ones by touching their feet. Afterwards, we served lunch and socialized with our friends and family.

When I showed Shawn a mirror and he saw his bald reflection, he had a big smile – I was relieved that he liked it. The three of us kept joking, "Where'd your hair go?" Luckily, he has a nicely shaped head, so the bald look worked for him! (We also joked that he's more aerodynamic and he'd be lightening fast!) So, Shaggy Shawn is a Q-ball now! He looks like a completely different person!

I was convinced that he was going to look like an over-grown infant with his newly shaven head; in reality, he looks like he's suddenly become a big boy. He looks much older and more mature now than he did with his wispy locks. I already miss his curls, but I know that hair grows back. Besides, now it's fun to rub our hands across his stubbly head!

At the end of the big day, Raj and I gave Shawn a gift to celebrate his milestone. During the ceremony, we had it nearby in case Shawn needed a distraction while his hair was being shaved. Since we didn’t need it then, we were able to share it with him when everyone went home. He opened a LeapPad Explorer and was very excited to have something like our computer and iPad for himself, especially since it had a camera function on it!

I love that Shawn took an active role in his Mundan ritual. He couldn’t have done that when he was younger. He looked like a little prince and took it all very seriously. For many reasons, including the fact that he didn’t have much hair when he was just a year old, I’m glad we waited until now to have his Mundan.

Yet another milestone to remind me that my little baby is growing up...

That's the part I'm having trouble with!

Happy Mundan, son.

We are very proud of you and love you always and forever.

दैव-दैत्यों पुत्र प्रसन्न

हम बहुत गर्व है तो आप और आप हमेशा प्रेम और सदैव

 

From http://www.indianhindunames.com/mundan-chadakarana-first-hair-removal.htm

“The next important ceremony after Annaprasana and Namakarana in a Hindu child’s life is the Mundan or Chadakarana when the baby has his first hair cut. The Mundan ceremony can be done in the 1st year, 3rd year, or 5th year of age, but it is normally done before the completion of three years of age of the boy.

Please note that Mundan as a ceremony is prescribed only for boy babies, but today, with the changing times, it has become a practice to have the ceremony done for girl children, too.

A proper Mundan ceremony involves three rituals of about an hour’s duration – the boy’s parents do a “Ganesh Puja” (worship of the Hindu Go Ganapati or Ganesh); a barber who shaves the child receives some honour; and a “Havan” (a purifying ritual with a fire ceremony) with devotional prayers known as the Ayushya Home mantra and Arati concludes the ceremony. This is followed by a feast and the giving of presents, which form the social aspect of the Mundan as a samskar.

Shaving the head is termed as “Ayushkarma” in Sanskrit. It means enhancing the longevity or the life span of the child. (“Ayuh” in Ayurveda also means this.) This child’s hair at the time of birth is not strong and the Mundan ceremony ensures that hair roots are strengthened and strong hair is formed. The shaved head receives Vitamin D from exposure from the sun and this has its own medicinal benefits...”

From http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-traditions/mundan.html

“There is a significant reason as to why the head is shaved in such an elaborate ritualistic way. According to the Hindu beliefs, the hair present at birth is supposed to represent unwanted traits from the past lives. In order to make sure that the child has no undesirable qualities of the past birth in this life, the hair is shaved off to ensure a new beginning and a fresh start. Medically, it is said that shaving off the hair stimulates the cells and improves blood circulation to the brain. Some also believe that this gives the child a long life.”

The Easter Elephant?!

Happy Easter!

Last night, Shawn went to bed easily... the Easter Bunny wouldn't come to our house if we were still awake and might see him! Before I tucked him in, we read The Night Before Easter by Natasha Wing. It was a fitting story for the occasion.

When Shawn woke this morning, he found a basket with just two Easter eggs in it. The rest of the eggs were scattered around the house, from the hall outside his room, down the stairs, and all over the living room and dining room. It was a lot of fun watching him hunt for hidden eggs and figure out how to get to a few that were out of his reach.

Finally, when all of the eggs had been discovered, Shawn found the last of the Easter Bunny's treasures waiting for him on the kitchen table: his dump truck Easter Basket filled with a bug net, Mr. Potato Bunny, a mini-pot with seeds for planting, a bath-time book, and, of course, a chocolate bunny. He was a pretty excited little boy!

The fun didn't end there! Next, we went to the circus! The George Carden Circus Spectacular was at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates. Before the show started, Shawn and I rode a camel, While we were waiting in line for him to ride a pony (which stopped giving rides just as we approached the front of the line! Arg!), our friends Veer, Shrenik, and Heena called Raj. It turned out that they were at the circus too and had seen us walk right by their seats! They saved a few extra spaces so we could join them. While we devoured popcorn and over-sugared lemonade, we watched "enchanting elephants, tantalizing tigers, amazing acrobats, motorcycle daredevils, and performers from around the world." During the intermission, we had another chance to ride the pony and Shawn got his first face-painting.

 

Though Raj and I were sure that Shawn was going to fall asleep on the way home from the circus, he was still wide awake when we got back. While I prepared our Easter dinner, Raj and Shawn planted the seeds in the little frog pot. They played tackle-football in the backyard. Shawn got a lot of use out of his new bug net and almost caught the biggest bug I've ever seen!

Got him!

Later, we feasted on ham with pineapples, crescents, rice, and green beans. As usual, there were plenty of leftovers to last us (and the rest of the neighborhood) until the next holiday!

 

It was a successful celebration - I think the Easter Bunny would be proud.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

In the wee hours this morning, Shawn woke up and joined Raj and me in bed. Luckily, he went right back to sleep and there was minimal tossing, turning, or kicking involved (at least that I’m aware of)! Recently, Shawn’s been waking up and wanting to come into our bed or not wanting to go to sleep in his bed at all. We haven’t made a big deal about it, but we don’t exactly welcome him in either. Since this didn’t used to be an issue and, in the last week or so, it’s been a frequent request, I wanted to talk to Shawn about what was going on.

So, later in the morning, when Shawn was fully awake, I asked him why he didn’t want to sleep in his own bed ‘last night’ (since it was still dark out). “Because my bed’s too small!” he explained, “I need a bigger bed!” Huh – well, then! That sounds simple enough! I’ll make sure he tells Raj himself tonight! Meanwhile, I have no idea how he got this idea or even knew a bigger bed was a possibility. We’ve never talked about it. There really is still plenty of room in the toddler bed for him – it’s not like he’s bumping his head and feet on the ends. As far as he knows, all kids have beds like his (cribs converted with a toddler railing)! Weird. When I told the teachers at Gymboree this afternoon, Ms. Mary Beth suggested maybe tying a ‘big boy’ bed to potty training… hmmmm...

We attended Art Class this afternoon and I felt like we got a little more ‘bang for our buck’ today. After a few minutes of free paint, the kids colored a cut-out heart with chunky shaped red crayons, glued it to a larger piece of construction paper, and then added glittery foam hearts to it. Shawn was engrossed with the new crayons that were about the size of his whole hand and shaped as hearts, bowls, and simply over-sized crayons. On the other hand, after a few seconds of scratching them across his paper, he lost interest in the actual project. I got him to glue the large heart to his construction paper when I showed him that he could pour the glue from his dixie cup and then spread it around, rather than neatly apply the glue with Q-tips, like the rest of the class. The foam hearts were lost on him entirely. In contrast, Abby went to town! She colored all over her heart cut-out, used her Q-tip to carefully cover the back with glue, and then did the same to add the foam hearts. All. Completely. Independently.

Abby's

Shawn's (sort of)

Once the Valentines were made, we returned to the ‘Circus’ theme that we’ve been doing for a few weeks. The next project was more fun (even to me). The kids covered the back of a paper plate with yellow, brown, and orange paint using a sponge brush. Then, they glued on eyes, a nose, a mouth (a piece of foam that looked like a packing peanut - ??), and a yarn mane to create a lion. Shawn didn’t care for the painting (so I did that part), but he really got into it when we started added the other features. Again, Abby needed little to no help. She did a great job thoroughly covering the plate with paint, leaving barely any white showing even around the edges. She added facial features on her own, but needed a little help with the mane because the yarn stuck more to her fingers than it did to the plate! I think the final products are among my favorites of all their art projects so far!

Abby's

Shawn's

Then, Ms. LouAnn gave the grownups a choice of either doing a third art project, which she explained may be more challenging than our typical projects, or having more time to play with the toys in the sand/water table. Almost unanimously, we opted for the third project. (I’ve never really understood why there’s so much time at the end of class for play time – we could easily do more projects, or better projects, with that time!) The kids were to use colored foam peanuts to make an elephant on black construction paper. (What? How?) Ms. LouAnn handed out sea sponges and explained that if the peanuts got a little damp, they’d get sticky. (Ooookay…? Still, not understanding what we’re supposed to do.) She also gave us glue. (Alrighty, not sure about this one, but he we go!) Shawn was completely lost, so while he played with the peanuts, I worked with Abby. We arranged the peanuts on her paper trying to shape the body of an elephant, but we weren’t being very successful. Instead, we started over and focused on just an elephant head. We made a long trunk (highlighted with a strip of aluminum foil), big ears, and hopefully, the rest of the head would just emerge as we went. As Ms. LouAnn explained, “The important thing is that the children know it’s an elephant and can tell you about it.” Then, it’s perfect! She knew exactly what it was and could tell me where the ears, nose, eyes, mouth, etc. were. Great job, Kiddo – better than what I would’ve done on my own! It turned out that Ms. LouAnn took the opportunity to help Shawn make his elephant… though the few times I glanced over, it looked like she was doing most of the work. (That made me feel better, since sometimes I wonder if I’m doing too much of the project for him, leading to his disinterest. But, it looked like he was already aloof about it and she just didn’t want him to go home empty handed!)

Abby's

Shawn's

There was still time for Ms. LouAnn to read See the Circus, by M. A. Rey, while the kids had a snack. Rather than our typical Winnie the Pooh cookies, one of the other children brought in Valentine’s Day cookies for everyone. The kids even still had time to play in the toys in the sand/water table, which just turned out to be red air bean bags that they pretended were “Valentines” to exchange with each other…  Glad we did the third project!

Raj and I agreed that we weren’t going to exchange Valentine’s gifts this year. However, I knew he’d still bring something, so I made a present for him – without spending a penny. I took a verse from ‘our’ song (Wonderful Tonight, by Eric Clapton), printed it on velum, layered with some fancy scrapbooking papers, and framed it. I’m glad I did it – it was fun to watch him realize what the verse was.

Raj brought me a lovely bouquet of roses and a very sweet card. He also had a Mylar heart balloon and a box of chocolate turtles, but Shawn claimed them for himself right away. I gave Shawn new toys for the bath tub: a basketball hoop with squirting balls, a motorboat, and a waterproof bath book about opposites. Then, we went out to an incredible dinner at Redstone American Grill (courtesy of a gift card from the team at Artistic Smiles). YUM!  However, as cliche as it may sound, the best part was spending the evening with two of my favorite men.  Cupid's arrows have struck me hard!  (Wish I had captured my two incredibly handsome Valentines on camera, but it didn't occur to me until it was too late!)

I did have Shawn tell Raj what he thought about his bed and why he didn’t want to sleep in it lately. Though a little surprised, Raj agreed that if it’s something Shawn thought he was ready for, then we may as well go for it! Looks like we have a project for this weekend…