Let it Snow

We had the good fortune of getting snowed in this week. Personally, I hate snow, and I feel that after a mild dusting of it around Christmastime, we can fast forward right to flip flop season, but when Mother Nature makes it possible for me to stay in my pajamas and keep my kids in theirs on a random weekday morning, enjoying a second cup of coffee, who am I to complain?

Of course, we were all out of bed by 6am, since toddlers have no way of letting their bodies know that it's a snow day and sleeping in is an option. (One day, when they are teenagers, I am going to be right up in THEIR faces like a big ray of sunshine at 6am on a Saturday.) The pancake buffet then ensued, including gluten free pancakes for Nicholas and little tiny pancake bites for Peter. By 7am, Owen had made his millionth request to go outside and play in the snow.

I realize now that I have never written about the first snowfall of the winter back in 2009, so pardon the dated video (since vlogging is supposed to be current!), but here it is in a nutshell. After it took me almost 20 minutes to bundle up both Owen and Nicholas in layers and deck them out in their snow boots, all while synchronizing this activity with Peter's 30 minute morning nap, Nicholas freaked out because wearing snow boots made him incapable of running at high speed, which is his absolute favorite activity. Owen was all sorts of excited to go outside, and I figured he would want to spend hours with Jason, being his little elfin shoveling helper. After ten minutes outside, both Owen and Nicholas wanted to come back inside. Jason, who had been outside shoveling for the past hour, also wanted to come inside. I had just spooned the Ghirardelli cocoa into the cold milk in the pot when Peter started kicking up. So, with Peter crying in the background, I stripped off coats, boots and outer layers of clothing, and then with Peter on my hip, I whisked the hot cocoa on the stovetop. As it turned out, my kids hate hot cocoa. Owen doesn't like any food that is above 40 degrees. Nicholas just wanted plain milk. I, on the other hand, wanted to spike my hot cocoa with Kahlua or Amaretto or a combination of both. At least Jason liked it as it was.

So, long story long, my children did not set one snow-booted foot outside this go around, and I felt no guilt. Instead of frolicking in the snow for a grand total of five minutes, we made pudding, colored, and worked on potty training.

Nicholas absolutely loves potty training. Or maybe I should say that Nicholas absolutely loves M&M's. He'll get on the toilet as many times as he can, provided he can get an M&M. At one point, when I told him that he actually had to DO something in order to get another M&M, he hopped down, ran out of the bathroom, ran right back in again, sat himself down and put his hand out like a toll taker. "M! M!" he yelled. As if I were Mrs. Short Term Memory...

Peter is almost 10 months old, which I truly cannot believe. He is waving hello and goodbye, screaming at the top of his lungs, and choreographing his very own version of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." And every time his older brothers are watching The Backyardigans or The Wonder Pets, he literally bounces with the music. (The little chunky monkey has plenty of bounce to him still!) He is crawling so fast that he escaped us last night and took a tumble down the first four steps of our basement landing. Thank goodness for all that insulation. Some rug burn on his forehead is the only evidence of casualty, and we can live with that. It's hard to believe that we aren't already baby-proofed enough, but we need to put up yet another baby gate. Owen has learned to open our kitchen gate, which I suppose was bound to happen some time soon, but did it have to be now?!

Here is another thing I find hard to believe: another Valentine's Day is here! I remember many a Valentine's Day spent sulking and having a pity party for myself over a pint of Ben and Jerry's, wishing that I could just meet Mr. Wonderful. How on earth did I ever arrive at this moment, when I have my #1 Mr. Wonderful and his three sidekicks? More often than I do, I should say thank you to God for all of them. The gratitude comes upon me the most when I am tucking them in at night, and most especially with Owen. I'll ask him each evening whom he wants to pray for, or what he wants to thank God for, and I'm always amazed at his answers. What I'm realizing is that "teaching" Owen how to pray is really helping me learn how to pray. Owen is grateful for everything from hot dogs to poems to walls. Last night, when I asked him what he wanted to thank God for, he looked at me as though I was the silliest person and said, "This DAY!" Duh! Given everything going on in our world, I could appreciate Owen's thanksgiving for food, books and a roof over his head in a much more meaningful context. And I, too, can thank God for all of the above.