Last week we woke up to beautiful snow falling outside our windows. The first of the season. I'm ecstatic. I adore snow. I live for snow in the winter. Makenna wakes up, I grab her out of her crib, prop her up in front of the window and share with her gleefully, "Look! It's snowing! It's snowing! Let's eat breakfast, get ready, and then go outside and play in it. You'll love it!"
2 hours later she's eaten her 2 eggs with ketchup, gotten dressed, and to my utter enjoyment... it's still snowing.
We put on her big winter jacket we got for Thanksgiving in NY, with two warm layers underneath. I pull two pairs of pants on her, just to be safe. We've got no snow pants or boots for anyone under 20, but don't worry, we'll make do with what we have. I look around the house. All of a sudden, I've morphed into Macgyver Mom, except instead of duct tape, our tool of choice is plastic grocery bags. We put on her stylish suede boots (under which are two toasty pairs of socks). Over them I double up on my Walmart bags, wrap them snuggly around her little feet, and then secure them tightly by wrapping thick masking tape around them 3 times. I confidently assure her, "Not a flake of snow will be getting through those bags, my darlin'." We put on her new snow gloves.
We're all bundled up, we open the door to the snow-covered streets, I pull on my daughter's hand behind me to step onto the porch, and low and behold, CHAOS. Her feet have no sooner touched the ground than I hear the beginnings of a "wailing and gnashing of teeth" episode. I quickly scurry her down the stairs, thinking she will calm down once she can encompass the grand scene in front of her on the sidewalks and streets. But oh, no! This only compounds the winter-wonderland-gone-wrong fit of tears. To make a long story short (actually it wasn't all that long, only about 6 minutes in length), I realize the only way to salvage my idea of a fun snow morning is to take a couple of snapshots to document our incredibly enjoyable excursion.
Needless to say, there was some good that came out of this traumatic event for Makenna. What do you get when you have 6 inches of fresh snow in a townhouse community, makeshift grocery bag boots accessorized with masking tape, a hysterical 18-month old, and a stay-at-home mom living next door to witness the whole thing?
Free snow boots!
A couple of weeks ago when it was in the 70's, Makenna and I met Drew for work to have lunch. After having a delightful little meal up at Union Station, we walked him back to his office and the little lady and I made our way over to the mall. It was absolutely the most beautiful day we'd had in a long time, so mommy and daughter had no qualms meandering around the sculpture garden in short sleeves. We headed onto the mall lawn and Makenna had the funnest time just running around to her heart's content, until she spotted... the Merry-Go-Round. That will be another post.
