08 August 2013

Cooling Off

This morning, Little Bear discovered that by turning on the bathroom sink and clamping his hand over the faucet, he could make water squirt everywhere. Cold, cold, icy, frigid water. Oh, child, no! He shrieked with laughter as I scrambled to pull him away from the sink and mop up the mess.

If we'd been outdoors, I wouldn't have begrudged him his fun; it has been hot here, much hotter and sunnier than is usual for August so far, and playing in cold water is pretty much the best way to cool down. (Okay, not including the grocery store's sale on Ben & Jerry's this week, but they are clearly trying lure me away from my diet.)

One of the things I'm most looking forward to about someday having our own house is setting up a sprinkler in the yard on a hot, sunny day for Little Bear to play in. Better yet, having a garden and letting him play with the hose while we water plants. When I was younger, watering was definitely the most coveted of the garden chores: you got to keep yourself cool, and could splash unsuspecting siblings, too!

We don't have any outdoor water to play in at our apartment, but we've come up with some other fun ways to keep cool: Taking walks first thing in the morning with a neighbor lets us get outside and exercise, but be home again before the day warms up. Yesterday, after Matt got home, we took advantage of a rare windy evening to have a picnic at a park, and rode their historic train during a quick cloudburst. Sunday evening always sees us taking a walk to the boat launch about half a mile away, where we watch boaters on the river and Matt teaches Little Bear to throw rocks into the water.

It's hard to imagine as every other day we set a new high temperature record, but winter will be here before we know it. Last year it snowed and stuck the first week of October! I keep trying to remember that whenever I want to moan about the heat: soon enough it will be snowing, and I'll long for another week of this weather.

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