The First Snow

The forecast for today was snow, snow, snow. Benny has been counting down the days since we found out it was going to snow today. When he woke up this morning, I told him to look outside. He was BEYOND excited and proceeded to tell me about everything that was covered in snow: the fence, the pinwheels, the houses, the grass, the trees. He had a hard time focusing on eating breakfast because all he wanted to do was talk about snow. There was snow all over the garden, the slide, the cars... Really, I got to hear about everything that was covered in snow.

After spending a solid 10 minutes bundling everyone up, we walked outside and Benny approached the stairs tentatively. I asked if he wanted help and he said no. As I was strapping Lila into her car seat, I heard Benny say, "Mama! This is soooo fun. Watch me!" He was just walking down the steps with his boots on, but he was in total nirvana.

Which made my bad attitude about the snow melt pretty quickly. I've never been a big fan of snow or cold. I don't like to ski. I'm not a huge sledding fan. I detest getting bundled up (although I do love scarves - one point for snow and cold). However, watching Benny's enthusiasm made me realize that maybe I should take a moment and just enjoy things, instead of instantly writing them off as incredibly inconvenient. Having kids has made me pause and rethink a lot of my attitudes about all sorts of subjects.

However, I will say that I don't like snow and cold for a very practical reason. I'm not much of a cold weather runner. Anything below 40 degrees and I'm paralyzed inside. And I'm far too lazy to find a winter weather sport. Extra fat isn't all that bad in the winter, I guess. Less to bundle up...

Oh, and speaking of firsts, Lila has taken her first steps! She started about a week ago. She's not too sure on her feet, but gets more courage every day. She typically sticks to three or four steps at a time. She's pretty proud of herself. And I'm pretty happy that I get to watch it happen!