Thursday, August 7, 2014

Celebrating Lenny's Baptismal Anniversary

I don't really know what to call it... I've alternated among "second birthday," "baptismal anniversary,"  and "baptismal birthday," along with confusing the actual "title" of the day with my convoluted explanations of it being your birthday in the church, the day you were baptized, etc. so now Lenny is calling it his "baptism-birthday-anniversary-party-day." 

Despite the confusion I think I've done an ok job of explaining it. We talked about how Chris and I chose to bring Lenny up as a Catholic and so we brought him to the priest who blessed him and he was born anew in the church. I also explained that at his baptism he became an adopted child of God, and now, just like his daddy takes care of him here, God is his Father who takes care of him from heaven. I even explained how that's connected to the Lord's Prayer and how special it is for us to call God our Father after we are baptized and how people weren't able to do that before Jesus gave us the sacrament of Baptism. I also did a quick explanation of original sin with the Adam and Eve story in the Kid's Bible and how baptism takes that away. I'm probably missing some stuff but I think it's ok for a three year old. 

To make the day special, we said a special prayer at mass asking for extra blessings for Lenny today. We were gonna light a candle but I forgot to bring a dollar. Then we went grocery shopping and I let him pick a treat. 


Oh, to be young again. The joy a lunchable brings is almost as good as Christmas. 


I let him pick what we are having for dinner and dessert, and he asked for meatball soup and chocolate chip cupcakes with ice cream. So when we got home we baked the cupcakes while Carolina napped. 

When she woke up, I let Lenny choose an outdoor activity. He picked a park down the street so we went, and even though it was so hot and humid that even my hair and fingernails were sweating, I didn't complain or rush him. Yay for me! He had fun playing under the bridge and doing "underdoggy" on the swing. 



He found lots of goodies, including feathers, half of an eggshell, giant chunks of concrete, and a "junky old piece of a rope" aka weave. I tried to explain that it was a braid of fake hair but he wasn't having it. 


Showing off his "rope."


After afternoon nap (when Lenny laid on my bed pretending to sleep) I iced the cupcakes and tried to clean up a little. Then when Chris got home we ate dinner and got out his baby box which had his baptismal outfit and candle in it. We lit the candle and read from the Bible, meant to renew our Baptismal Promises but I forgot, and I blessed Lenny's head with spit because we had no holy water. 




After that we had the cupcakes and ice cream. I think it was a nice way to commemorate his baptism and it will definitely be a tradition that we keep. 



Yay for cupcakes!


Lenny holds such a special place in my heart. He is the boy who made me a mama. I will always remember his baptism as such a special day, when I gave him back to God and made a promise to raise him in the faith. I try to always keep in mind that he does not belong to me. God has given him to me as a gift and a blessing to sanctify me and help me get to heaven. With this is the great responsibility to do the same for him. May God give me the grace every day to show Lenny how to love and live for Him. 

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