Snow Day!

For Seattle, it has been super cold here... In the teens and 20's at night... for over a week now. The threat of a large snowstorm has been looming and we've had 2 false alarms, but today was a big day. It snowed all night with a break in the morning and then from about noon to 6. Most major roads were impassable or a complete nightmare, so I worked from home and kept Ian home from school to avoid getting on the road with complete idiots.

Last year, we had a couple of small snow events and neither went well. I've posted a couple of pics below of Ian's first exposure to the elements.

We went out right after he woke up this morning. Two clothing layers, a snow suit, a puffy jacket, boots, hat... and NO mittens. He refused in a big way. I decided to let it go to prevent associating snow with a big traumatic fit. He did great! He wasn't ready to roll around in it or anything, but he wasn't scared either, which is stark contrast from last year. He didn't like getting his hands wet and cold, but I don't blame him.

He was a bit of a pill after we came in the house and got out of all the snow gear. I think he was overstimulated from the new experience. We hung out in the house the rest of the morning, and since his speech therapy session was cancelled due to the weather, we did some exercises to make up for it. We have these Brain Quest flash cards geared toward expanding vocabulary and speech expression and he really likes them. We also read 3 full I Spy books, which he also loves.

With the weather worsening, Shawn headed home from work and after naptime, we geared up again and all headed over to the park across the street with Ian's early Christmas present, a sled. I'm so glad we bought it well in advance of the forecasts. I'm sure the stores are sold out now. The park across the street from us has a huge hill that is the highlight for the kids in our community. I imagine they dream all year about one opportunity to conquer that hill. The pictures just don't do justice to the grade of the hill. I went down a small section and it was a blast. There were kids going from top to bottom and catching air halfway down. I can't wait until Ian is old enough to really enjoy it.

Again, he refused to wear mittens, but he likes his hat, so we decided to let him go without something on his hands. I can't imagine how cold he was by the time we got home. It snowed hard the entire time we were out so we were only out in it for about 20 minutes. Again, we had a major attitude when we got in the house. He wasn't upset that we came in. He was just crabby...Throwing things, not listening, etc. I'm pretty sure it was just overload from processing a new experience. Practice makes perfect!

It has stopped snowing, but it's down in the high teens and low 20's tonight and highs expected in the 20's tomorrow...then snow again Saturday night into Sunday. Grandma Trish will not be risking her hide to drive out to stay with Ian tomorrow, so I will be taking the day off to hang with the little guy. Shawn will be working from home and is then off for the next 2 weeks.

I don't know how I'll do it, but I need to get Ian to see Santa in the next few days. Like everything else lately, I'm really pushing the envelope in terms of time. At some point I'll change...unless I decide to put that off, too!

Enjoy some pics of our fun snow day...and some early Christmas presents!

Such a different little guy from last year's snow. Same jacket and snowpants, though!

His hands got cold and we went inside pretty quickly...But he had a great time kicking the snow and following Polli around the yard.

This was what I dealt with when we came back inside. A big time tantrum for some unknown reason. Gladly, it didn't last long.



Heading out in his new ride.

The park was hoppin'. One day he'll be one of those kids sailing down the hill and screaming the whole way.

Mittens or no mittens, he was having fun.

Heading home. It was snowing hard and his hands were cold. We'll give it another go tomorrow.

He's finally taller than Polli!

He loves to balance on things...and really likes to touch the ceiling for some reason. Could his ancestors be famous Chinese acrobats?

A neighbor recycled an old toy to us... we really should have put it under the tree, but it was fun to see him interested in something other than his train set for once.