11 April 2014

SQTF 85: Please Let it be Spring Soon?

I
Little Bear is definitely a member of my younger siblings' "as long a winter as possible" club, and he sure didn't learn that from either of his parents! We got another couple inches of snow earlier this week and have had below-0 mornings since Monday, and he has been so ridiculously happy to have his snow boots, heavy winter coat, and warm hat and mittens back out of the closet. Seriously, he brings me his wool hat at least once a day and asks to wear it, just while running around the house. If I take him somewhere in the afternoon when it's warmed up above freezing and try to put his breakup boots and lighter jacket on him, he freaks out, flings the jacket away, and runs to bring me the "right" boots. 

II
Yesterday's nap was cut short by the landlady vacuuming the hard floors right above us--why do people vacuum bathroom/kitchen floors?? why not just sweep them quietly??--and we really need a good nap today: Little Bear woke up with wet bedsheets at 1:30 this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep and finally took a shower at 2:45, and Little Bear was up again from 3:45 to nearly 5. Then he slept quietly until almost 6:30, when he got up for the day, wide awake and happy, prompting us to stick him on the floor with books and hide under our pillows for as long as he let us...

III
Usually by mid-April, it is still dipping below freezing at night, but the days are warm and sunny and the snow is melting. If the weather forecast can be trusted--and it's been depressingly accurate recently--we can look for high 40s to low 50s by Sunday and into the coming week! I am so happy; Little Bear may be sad to see his snow boots packed away again, but I'm very ready for winter to be over. Yesterday I took him by the migratory bird refuge, which usually by now would have lots of geese, maybe even swans, and it was completely silent and snowy and frozen over. We did have fun taking a short walk down the still-snowpacked trail, but really, it's time to be able to go outside and take part in spring activities.

IV
We brought home Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar from the library yesterday. Little Bear likes looking at the caterpillar, likes counting the fruits, likes saying "ca-pillah," but for some reason he insists that we skip the page about Saturday when the caterpillar eats all of the random junk food. It's so strange.

We also borrowed two Robert McCloskey books: Make Way for Ducklings and One Morning in Maine. The second was more for me, since I hadn't seen it before, but Make Way for Ducklings should be popular after a few readings. He loves McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal, and Ducklings seemed like a good one now that we are hoping and pretending it's springtime.

V
It's so much fun to hear him learning to use words in new contexts! "Problem" has always been a clothing-associated word for him: his socks sliding down, his boots falling off, his pants coming unsnapped have all been "pobom"s. This morning, though, when Matt and I finally gave up on sleep and ganged up to tickle the little boy who made us wake up early, he would laugh and yell "pobom!" whenever we were both tickling him at the same time. Problem, Daddy! Problem! Too much tickling! :-)

VI
I may have been a little premature in declaring myself to be doing a good job of making real suppers every night this week... Wednesday was a cheating night, because we went over to my parents' house, and yesterday I felt awful and Matt wound up making egg sandwiches for himself and Little Bear because I didn't want to move, let along look at food. I'll try again tonight... My weekly menu says noodles and broccoli with peanut sauce, but the last time I opened the peanut butter jar to give Little Bear some, the scent was way too much for me... Maybe I'll try to think of something less adventurous for tonight.

VII
Somebody keeps adjusting the filters on my phone's camera, and my recent photos have all come out grainy. I really liked this one anyway, though; every time I see it, I remember that parenthood may cause us lots of frustration and lost sleep, but the joy so much more than balances all that out!


Have a great weekend! Visit Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.

No comments:

Post a Comment