sledding, finally.

adah's been begging us to take her sledding for the past several weeks, but as a result of our nutzo weekday schedule, we've needed some major down time over the weekends. yesterday we finally felt energetic enough to head up to the mountain.

SO WORTH IT. fresh air, closeness to the sun, a thrilled dog and kid. (i'm going to just skip the part where hattie took a dump at the bottom of a crowded children's sledding hill, and a man screamed at me for bringing my dog to play up in the snow.) after shedding some layers and a bag of dog shit, we had a picnic lunch in the car, and went to explore some other areas that were not so loud with grumpy, dog-hating men.  

i have been so short-fused and grumpy lately. i needed yesterday.

dear little reader,

we are so very proud of you. 

i love how you sprawl out on the kitchen floor and read to me while i'm making dinner. 

January Rain Song (Through Gritted Teeth)

A kiss that lasts this long is just downright obscene.

The beating of the rain is making us go collectively insane.

We go to sleep -- it's raining, we wake up -- it's raining. Some lullaby.

The rain makes deep puddles under the swingset. Indoor recess again.

The rain keeps sump pumps running.

Yet, I must not forget that the rain is the reason for our towering trees—

And so I love the rain.

(by Mary Lee Hahn)

just so ya know

the difficulty in raising an "spirited" child (and by that i mean intense, ultra sensitive, volatile, draining, moody, chronically cranky-- sorry, i'm all out of euphemisms, folks) is that one moment you're watching the kid be absolutely delighted by the discovery of a big puddle outside the library, and you can see how  thrilled she is about the possibility of leaping over it...

and the next moment you are trying to tame and soothe a ferocious, wailing 20-minute meltdown as a result of her tights getting a little wet in that no-longer-glorious puddle. 

sigh. 

end of public service announcement. 

everybody loves a snow day

even when the snowman melts by noon.