The Egg Hunt Champion

We took Caden to a township-wide Easter egg hunt. There were tons of kids in each age group. When it was time for the 3 year olds, Caden was quickly left in the dust as the other kids ran ahead and filled their baskets. Caden managed to score about a half dozen eggs. He would lift an egg, yell "Yay!" and turn to leave like the game was over. We had to keep telling him to get back in there and look for more eggs. With his fine motor skills being what they are, by the time he grasped an egg and tossed it in the bucket (if it went in and he didn't have to start over with picking it off the ground), the kids around us had picked the ground clean. Then Caden started collecting the broken half-shells of eggs and was just as thrilled to find these. I watched as parents huddled around their kids, counting their stash and looking for any prize-winning eggs. Caden was alone on the field by now but still signing "more".

"It's all done, buddy," I told him and walked him over to visit the Easter Bunny. We certainly didn't find the most eggs and may have even found the least in his age group. But this is one of the important lessons I've learned while raising Caden: the final score really doesn't matter. It's about just being in the game at all. And most importantly, having fun while you're doing it. It was freezing cold, bitterly windy, but Caden ran around the park afterwards for nearly an hour with his Easter bucket. He waited in line to hug the Easter Bunny twice. No one was as excited as my son simply to be there that day. In that respect, he beat them all.