Sunday, November 21, 2010
Ahhh, The snow has come
Hello All,
Well it is yet again a month later (maybe longer). So why the delay this time? I'm not sure really. I'm just gonna go with laziness. So how is everyone out there in blog world? Things are good her in my world. Meaghan is loving kindergarten and I must admit I am loving her going to kindergarten. I truly enjoy the alone time kindergarten brings to my life. Her first report card comes out on Wednesday. I'm pretty pumped to see it.
I am amazed at how fast she is learing french; And she is reading. I sit there like a zombie (who is not trying to eat her brains) with my mouth open in awe of how well she is doing. She recognizes the words and reads me stories of ducks getting stuck in muck, fat cats sitting on mats, rats wearing hats that they stole from bats. I fall even more in love with her every time she figures out a new word. I am amazed by her, and her little imp voice is the most wonderful music in the world.
It started to snow this week. Now I live in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. So if you don't live here you may not be aware of just how much snow we are capable of getting, over a very short span of time. In a matter of 3 days there must be at least 15 cm of snow. On the first day of snowfall Meaghan decided it was time to bundle up and go out and play in the snow. So away we went on the chaotic journey of getting a 5 year old onto her Canadian outdoor weather gear.
We start with the sweater, which must be tucked into the pants of the child. This is to lesson the risk of snow getting down said child's back. Following the tucking in of the sweater we moved onto the ski-pants (or snow-pants depending on your preference of terms). Ski-pants in my opinion are the trickiest part of snow survival gear. I say this because not only do you have to get the strap length right, you have to finangle the foot through the very little elastic opening at the bottom of the legs. In getting the foot through the opening you must be careful NOT to leave the baby toe of the foot in the inside of the pant leg; while the rest of the foot is forcefully being pulled out. If you do happen to get the baby toe left in the pant leg you MUST go back for it. In snow gear war YOU MUST NEVER LEAVE A TOE BEHIND.
Now that you have both feet safely through the elastic holes and all their toes have made it through the battle, you must forge ahead to the last leg of ski-pant hell. The getting of the boots on and then the placement of ski-pant over the boots. Sounds easy? Well it isn't. Think about it, we had almost lost a man just trying to get the foot through. Now we have to get the pant leg up high enough to creat a big enough space to get the boots on and done up. However, when we pull the ski-pants up, the jean leg underneath also goes up. So we must fish out the jeans and pull the cuff of the jeans down. After the pant leg has been rescued from the brief kidnapping by the ski-pants, it must be folded around the child's leg to be small enough to fit into the winter boot. So now that we have the pant leg tucked into the winter boot we must proceed to tie the boot up as snugly as possible (without cutting of circulation to the toes we have already injured in the first battle with the ski-pant). Once the boot has been secured to the child's foot we must then embark on the last leg of ski-pant warfare; And believe me the last leg is the worst part yet.
Now that the boots are in place we must get the ski-pant down over the boot. Think about that. We fought to get the foot through the hole and now we are going to try to get the ski-pant over a WINTER BOOT. Are we nuts? Why don't snow suits stay the way they were when the kids wearing them were babies. You know the ones that have the boots built right into them. I miss the days of laying the kid down and simply putting the leg in the leg holes and zipping up the zipper and then presto you're done. But no such luck now a days. Nope, instead we have to hurt our fingers pulling a too tight elastic over too big a boot (due to the layers of insulation and faux fur trim). Once we finally get the elastic over the top of the boots we must avoid cutting our fingers on the hooks that are on the boots to tighten the laces. Then just when we think we have it, we realize that the pant legs are too short so we must get the child to lay down so that we can yank on the ski-pants in the hopes that a simple strong tug will do the job. Otherwise we have to go back to the top of the ski-pants and adjust the length of the straps.
All right the ski-pants and boots are in place. Now we move on to the jacket. This seems simple enough. This year however, the new jacket we have bought for Meaghan seems to have a mind of it's own. Instead of the zipper sliding up and down nice and smooth it gets caught EVERY TIME. Going up or down it snags the fabric around it. Every single time. I kid you not. Normally I would just say screw it and but a new jacket but it is a Gap jacket and is incredibly warm and thin thanks to the down inside of it. So for those reasons we will persevere and just deal with the constant snagging of the zipper. Once the zipper is done up and we have been fortunate enough to not have caught the kids neck skin or her hair in the zipper. If hair or skin is caught all the work you have done in the battle against boots and ski-pants will have been for naught. If skin or hair is caught in the zipper there will be no outside play at this time. We must then do up the buttons to cover the zipper with fabric so no snow gets into the zipper.
With buttons done up we are then told by the child that the jacket is strangling them(see, mind of it's own). We must then undue the top button and and take the zipper down a bit, so that the strangling will stop. Once the crisis has been averted we have to get the toque on, push hair out of line of sight and secure it under the chin to avoid it coming off while the kid is playing in the snow. After the toque we must get the hood up over the toque and the pompom on the top of the head. At that moment you can see the finish line. You are so close to the end of the snow gear battle that you can finally stop and breathe.
The last 2 things to apply to the already overheated kid is the scarf and mittens. Scarf application is fairly easy. Place over the chin, mouth cheeks and nose, leaving enough space under the eyes so that you don't run the risk of covering the eyes or poking the child in the eye. After the placement of the scarf there is only one thing left to do. The covering of the hands. Now there are only 2 options here. 1 of them is a good idea the other not so much. If you are one of those parents who have chosen gloves this winter for your child, I beg you, please for you sanity and the sake of your child throw them out. Run to the store right now and buy mittens. Gloves are the last thing you should try to put on your child. There is absolutely no chance of you making a quick getaway with the use of gloves. Too many fingers and finger holes. Too many chances for fingers to go in the wrong hole. If your kid is like mine, and a middle finger goes into the ring finger pocket in the glove, giggles will erupt, and the child will proceed to get even hotter. Your journey to the freedom of the outdoors will take even longer. So please hear my plea and buy MITTENS. Mittens are easy to get on with only 2 possible places for fingers and thumb to go. The only hitch to the mitten scenario is if you do not pull the sleeves of the jacket over the mittens. Snow will have a direct avenue to the kids skin and the time outside will be cut short.
Now that Meaghan is dressed and I have checked to make sure that she can move her arms and legs, she can see out of her eyes and her little ears are not in danger of getting frost bitten I can open the door to the winter wonderland beyond it. I watch as she steps outside, looks up and yells. I Sigh.....Of course, the one part of her body not covered by some form of cotton is immediately struck by the falling snow. Anyone had a snowflake in the eye? Meaghan has, and after the initial shock wore off it was apparently a fun thing to have happen. So she did it again and again. Then I hear her yell"Mamma can I ride my bike?" I say "sure" So off she goes to get her bike and then..........
She tries to ride it.
Ever tried to ride a bike in the snow? Ever tried to ride a bike in full on snow gear? NO? No, cause you're not a 5 year old. I laughed so hard at her. She hadn't rode her bike in 2 months but the first day it snows she decides is a good time for a bike ride. lol It was slow going cause she had to stand up on the bike to pedal, and even then progress was pretty small. So next she tries sitting and pedaling. She also gets her body into it. So every time she pedaled she would jerk her body forward in hope of gaining some momentum. Bike riding lasted about 6 minutes. You need to be able to pedal. The snow build up around the tires and the cumbersome riding attire were all hindrance with no help.
After biking was abandoned she moved on to the ever popular snow angel making. Followed by dog chasing, and ending with the throwing of snow and snow balls at the house. All in all I think it was a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of winter. Let's face it here in Winnipeg winter has 2 seasons. First is the holiday season (yay), second is the freeze your face off in 60 seconds windchill season (boo). So I figure enjoy the first part cause the second part is going to make you wonder why on earth do we live here.
Later Gator's
B
Well it is yet again a month later (maybe longer). So why the delay this time? I'm not sure really. I'm just gonna go with laziness. So how is everyone out there in blog world? Things are good her in my world. Meaghan is loving kindergarten and I must admit I am loving her going to kindergarten. I truly enjoy the alone time kindergarten brings to my life. Her first report card comes out on Wednesday. I'm pretty pumped to see it.
I am amazed at how fast she is learing french; And she is reading. I sit there like a zombie (who is not trying to eat her brains) with my mouth open in awe of how well she is doing. She recognizes the words and reads me stories of ducks getting stuck in muck, fat cats sitting on mats, rats wearing hats that they stole from bats. I fall even more in love with her every time she figures out a new word. I am amazed by her, and her little imp voice is the most wonderful music in the world.
It started to snow this week. Now I live in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. So if you don't live here you may not be aware of just how much snow we are capable of getting, over a very short span of time. In a matter of 3 days there must be at least 15 cm of snow. On the first day of snowfall Meaghan decided it was time to bundle up and go out and play in the snow. So away we went on the chaotic journey of getting a 5 year old onto her Canadian outdoor weather gear.
We start with the sweater, which must be tucked into the pants of the child. This is to lesson the risk of snow getting down said child's back. Following the tucking in of the sweater we moved onto the ski-pants (or snow-pants depending on your preference of terms). Ski-pants in my opinion are the trickiest part of snow survival gear. I say this because not only do you have to get the strap length right, you have to finangle the foot through the very little elastic opening at the bottom of the legs. In getting the foot through the opening you must be careful NOT to leave the baby toe of the foot in the inside of the pant leg; while the rest of the foot is forcefully being pulled out. If you do happen to get the baby toe left in the pant leg you MUST go back for it. In snow gear war YOU MUST NEVER LEAVE A TOE BEHIND.
Now that you have both feet safely through the elastic holes and all their toes have made it through the battle, you must forge ahead to the last leg of ski-pant hell. The getting of the boots on and then the placement of ski-pant over the boots. Sounds easy? Well it isn't. Think about it, we had almost lost a man just trying to get the foot through. Now we have to get the pant leg up high enough to creat a big enough space to get the boots on and done up. However, when we pull the ski-pants up, the jean leg underneath also goes up. So we must fish out the jeans and pull the cuff of the jeans down. After the pant leg has been rescued from the brief kidnapping by the ski-pants, it must be folded around the child's leg to be small enough to fit into the winter boot. So now that we have the pant leg tucked into the winter boot we must proceed to tie the boot up as snugly as possible (without cutting of circulation to the toes we have already injured in the first battle with the ski-pant). Once the boot has been secured to the child's foot we must then embark on the last leg of ski-pant warfare; And believe me the last leg is the worst part yet.
Now that the boots are in place we must get the ski-pant down over the boot. Think about that. We fought to get the foot through the hole and now we are going to try to get the ski-pant over a WINTER BOOT. Are we nuts? Why don't snow suits stay the way they were when the kids wearing them were babies. You know the ones that have the boots built right into them. I miss the days of laying the kid down and simply putting the leg in the leg holes and zipping up the zipper and then presto you're done. But no such luck now a days. Nope, instead we have to hurt our fingers pulling a too tight elastic over too big a boot (due to the layers of insulation and faux fur trim). Once we finally get the elastic over the top of the boots we must avoid cutting our fingers on the hooks that are on the boots to tighten the laces. Then just when we think we have it, we realize that the pant legs are too short so we must get the child to lay down so that we can yank on the ski-pants in the hopes that a simple strong tug will do the job. Otherwise we have to go back to the top of the ski-pants and adjust the length of the straps.
All right the ski-pants and boots are in place. Now we move on to the jacket. This seems simple enough. This year however, the new jacket we have bought for Meaghan seems to have a mind of it's own. Instead of the zipper sliding up and down nice and smooth it gets caught EVERY TIME. Going up or down it snags the fabric around it. Every single time. I kid you not. Normally I would just say screw it and but a new jacket but it is a Gap jacket and is incredibly warm and thin thanks to the down inside of it. So for those reasons we will persevere and just deal with the constant snagging of the zipper. Once the zipper is done up and we have been fortunate enough to not have caught the kids neck skin or her hair in the zipper. If hair or skin is caught all the work you have done in the battle against boots and ski-pants will have been for naught. If skin or hair is caught in the zipper there will be no outside play at this time. We must then do up the buttons to cover the zipper with fabric so no snow gets into the zipper.
With buttons done up we are then told by the child that the jacket is strangling them(see, mind of it's own). We must then undue the top button and and take the zipper down a bit, so that the strangling will stop. Once the crisis has been averted we have to get the toque on, push hair out of line of sight and secure it under the chin to avoid it coming off while the kid is playing in the snow. After the toque we must get the hood up over the toque and the pompom on the top of the head. At that moment you can see the finish line. You are so close to the end of the snow gear battle that you can finally stop and breathe.
The last 2 things to apply to the already overheated kid is the scarf and mittens. Scarf application is fairly easy. Place over the chin, mouth cheeks and nose, leaving enough space under the eyes so that you don't run the risk of covering the eyes or poking the child in the eye. After the placement of the scarf there is only one thing left to do. The covering of the hands. Now there are only 2 options here. 1 of them is a good idea the other not so much. If you are one of those parents who have chosen gloves this winter for your child, I beg you, please for you sanity and the sake of your child throw them out. Run to the store right now and buy mittens. Gloves are the last thing you should try to put on your child. There is absolutely no chance of you making a quick getaway with the use of gloves. Too many fingers and finger holes. Too many chances for fingers to go in the wrong hole. If your kid is like mine, and a middle finger goes into the ring finger pocket in the glove, giggles will erupt, and the child will proceed to get even hotter. Your journey to the freedom of the outdoors will take even longer. So please hear my plea and buy MITTENS. Mittens are easy to get on with only 2 possible places for fingers and thumb to go. The only hitch to the mitten scenario is if you do not pull the sleeves of the jacket over the mittens. Snow will have a direct avenue to the kids skin and the time outside will be cut short.
Now that Meaghan is dressed and I have checked to make sure that she can move her arms and legs, she can see out of her eyes and her little ears are not in danger of getting frost bitten I can open the door to the winter wonderland beyond it. I watch as she steps outside, looks up and yells. I Sigh.....Of course, the one part of her body not covered by some form of cotton is immediately struck by the falling snow. Anyone had a snowflake in the eye? Meaghan has, and after the initial shock wore off it was apparently a fun thing to have happen. So she did it again and again. Then I hear her yell"Mamma can I ride my bike?" I say "sure" So off she goes to get her bike and then..........
She tries to ride it.
Ever tried to ride a bike in the snow? Ever tried to ride a bike in full on snow gear? NO? No, cause you're not a 5 year old. I laughed so hard at her. She hadn't rode her bike in 2 months but the first day it snows she decides is a good time for a bike ride. lol It was slow going cause she had to stand up on the bike to pedal, and even then progress was pretty small. So next she tries sitting and pedaling. She also gets her body into it. So every time she pedaled she would jerk her body forward in hope of gaining some momentum. Bike riding lasted about 6 minutes. You need to be able to pedal. The snow build up around the tires and the cumbersome riding attire were all hindrance with no help.
After biking was abandoned she moved on to the ever popular snow angel making. Followed by dog chasing, and ending with the throwing of snow and snow balls at the house. All in all I think it was a wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of winter. Let's face it here in Winnipeg winter has 2 seasons. First is the holiday season (yay), second is the freeze your face off in 60 seconds windchill season (boo). So I figure enjoy the first part cause the second part is going to make you wonder why on earth do we live here.
Later Gator's
B
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1 comments:
HAHA! Funny, love it!
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