Snow Day!

Winter has officially come to our corner of the world. Though beautiful, I always have very mixed feelings about that first real snow fall. It gets me in the warm mood for Christmas and coziness and hot cocoa and fuzzy socks and snuggly blankets.... but it also means that January first will come and go and after that,

  .............Winter.............lasts.............for.............ever.............  

My husband just laughs at me when I stand out in the cold for all of thirty seconds, already shivering, tucking my chin as deeply into my scarf as possible, and wishing my shoulders could keep my ears warm while my eyes water and form ice droplets on my face. "Babe, I can't believe you were born and raised in Wisconsin. You act like you're from Florida!" He's right... And every year it gets worse. I try not to feel so strongly that it is utterly unfortunate to have my life, my love, my family, my friends... all of it centered in Wisconsin. (Don't get me wrong! Other than for the seeming unending Winters, I find Wisconsin to be one of the most beautiful places on God's green earth...... In fact, when it is green, it is just how I picture Heaven. When it is white however........ sighs... I digress.)

But this year..... This year.... I suddenly have a really weird new appreciation for this deplorable, dreaded, freezing, freezing cold white stuff. This year I got to see it through the blue eyes of my sweet little one year-old...... And would you believe me if I told you, 

It became MAGICAL.

With a child in my house, I really could not sit on the warm side of my window pane glaring out at the snow for ever. It was time to venture out of this cocoon and experience the real world... the white world... with this child of mine. Besides, his daddy was eager to take him for a sled ride.

...So away they went, up and down and around the drive way with me following closely in hot pursuit of a good picture.... or two, or three, or fifty.

 

The poor boy was bundled so tightly he could barely move. His sense of balanced was completely oppressed in layers of clothing and snow pants and overstuffed vest crammed inside his leather bombadeer jacket.

His determined little self still made a great effort at beating the odds and trying his own two boot-clad feet out in the snow. But it did not work so well. "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" is definitely not his song this year.

But as he acquainted himself with this delightful new climate, I found that I was almost enjoying it too.

Capturing his first-ever taste of snow was pretty cool (Ha! Pun!). Can you say Kodak moment??! It would definitely not be his last taste........

Unlike his mother, my little boy was quite fascinated with this new white world of his.

I watched him and wondered, What is he thinking? What is it like to wake up to this having never ever known of such a thing? What is it like to see it for the first time? To sit in it, touch it, experience it... so real, so cold, and so wet when it melts?

I'm thinking he didn't really know what his feelings on the matter were, except for that he has always been one to enjoy expanding his menu options.

Seeing Winter through the eyes of my child changes it so much for me. Some days I think my little boy teaches and shows me more than I'll ever be able to teach and show him. That's what I love about being a parent.... Well, one of the many things.