The return of snow

Winter finally showed up yesterday and brought with it some snow. Noah was ecstatic! He bugged me about going outside for two hours in the morning while we slogged through breakfast and my usual Saturday morning chores. Finally, I caved and began the dressing process for snowy days.

In the 10 minutes it took for me to layer Noah in pants, snow pants, tall socks, a sweatshirt, a coat, and gloves (and then myself in something I cobbled together), I felt for my mother. She had four kids to remind to pee before trying to locate 16 gloves and boots to match our snow pants and snow coats. She was also a firm believer in bread bags as the bottom layer on your hands and feet—something to keep the wet off your skin.

I skipped the bread bags today, but I battled Noah through the rest ("stand still" are words that fall deaf on toddler ears). Finally, we were outside! And hark, the snow was perfect packing snow. The fun was on!

First: I sent Noah on a pass down our tiny backyard hill. Despite the "whee!" he let out when he went down, he was not eager to do it again.

Then I got busy on our snowman. My Aunt Peg gave us a great snowman kit last year (or the year before?), so we had all the goods to dress up our mounds of snow. Noah liked the rolling part, and he especially enjoyed the shaping part, which left Frosty looking like a slasher film victim. I patched him up just enough to take this picture.


Once Frosty was complete, little man was pooped. He announced, "Let's go inside now, Mama. It's hard to play in the snow!" Indeed!