Part 1. We'll call this moment, "The Genesis of Sergio"
(our snowman with a food coloring face and a chili pepper nose.)
Part 2. The Sad Demise of Sergio.
This is what we woke up to the very next morning. Oh, yes, there were many tears....I think I may have laughed out loud before I saw the trauma it caused the children...and then tried to cover it with all kinds of strange coughing noises into my coffee cup.
and now,
Part 3. The Further Adventures of the Winkels--Determined to Have Seminal Moments Despite all Reason.
It looks like Spring may actually decide to come this year...
(I'm looking around for some wood to knock on...)
Even though the weather seems to have taken a turn, it'll be weeks before all this snow is gone. Never, in all the years I have lived in Central Alberta, have I seen this much snow in one winter.
The other day my sister in law K, was asked whether or not there is grass in the yard at her new house... she honestly didn't know, and the truth is neither do I know about my yard. I'm sure there is, but I'm not sure I even really remember what grass is... it's green right?
Winter has been a long, frozen ordeal this year and sometimes, just because she can, mother nature decides to give us all one last swift kick with a few weeks of raging blizzards in the month of March..... Now that I think of it, sometimes we get those in April and even May....
Yes, the last few weeks have been a little frigid to say the least, and now just like a snap of the fingers, we were out to hunt down some rubber boots on Monday and enjoy the sticky, wet, white stuff that is melting just enough to create perfect snowmen.
For the first half of this week there was fresh air and sunshine and spray painting the backyard with water and food coloring... oh and there was mud too... lots and lots of it being tracked into the house, and I think that's just going to be life for the next 2 months at least.
But before the glorious-ness of Monday, there were those frozen weeks I mentioned. The weeks where we got a little desperate and headed out to try Ava's new skates despite the -28 with the windchill....
I was pretty pleased with myself back in October when I purchased the skates for $15.00 ( never been used at a second hand sale). And after pumping up some figure skating competitions on YouTube, Ava was thrilled to open them on Christmas morning. I had sold her delusions of spinning, leaping grandeur in lace and Sequins.
Already in hindsight this seems like a bad idea to have my 4 year old daughter believing that to skate means to be like Michelle Kwan....
Then came the purchase of the $50.00 helmet. I balked at first but like every mother, I want to protect my child's skull and so I begrudgingly handed over the cash and walked out with a large black hockey helmet that my daughter decided instantly was very UN-pretty.
I thought of finding some way to embellish the ugly helmet with some sort of glitter and fortunately gave that up pretty quickly. She'll likely be scarred enough by the times she's a teen, why add a large sparkly hockey helmet to her list of horrible things her mother made up and forced her to wear?
Finally the skates were sharpened and the snow suits were on, including Jackson's, mine and Kevin's. We had a chair to balance on and a free rink within walking distance; we were all set.
Kevin laced her into the skates and after a half an hour or so (it was likely only about 10 minutes in reality) we got the first complaint in that unmistakable tone that only small children know, a cross between a sick duck and Fran Drescher on helium...
"Daaaaddeeeeeeeee, they're heavy on my feet!"
Followed closely by the second, "They're toooooooo tiiiiiiiiight!"
the third,and fourth, "they feel funny" " I can't stand up, I can't walk!!!"
and on it went...
We threw her in the toboggan and trudged against the wind to the rink.
Kevin quickly gave up the idea of lacing himself into his skates and Jackson and I started jumping up and down to keep warm.
"How long do you think we'll be out here?" I chattered. ( I'm a wuss when it comes to the cold... a complete wuss)
But really, our noses were starting to run and I could feel the skin on my face tightening...
"Oh,
Ava began to whimper in the toboggan and Jackson and I kept jumping while Kevin ran back to the house for the hideous black helmet.
Finally, her head,(which was probably ensconced in enough toques and scarves to make the helmet redundant), was stuffed into it and the moment had arrived for her to take to the ice.
She shot me one of those looks that only a mother can fully understand; the kind that says, "this is nothing like what you said it would be." and I smiled brightly while cringing inwardly; my camera ready to capture this Kodak moment.
Her blades touched the ice....
and she began to scream.
"DADDY DON'T LET GO!I'M GOING TO FALL! DON'T LET GO! I'M SLIPPING! I'M FALLING! I DON'T LIKE THIS! DADDYDON'TLETGO!DON'TLETGODON'TLETGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ask me now, how I'm feeling about taking the training wheels off her bike next summer...
Kevin did his best to talk her down off her ledge-so-to-speak, and they slipped and slid around the ice for a few moments before the shrieking began again,
"MY NOSE IS RUNNY! I NEED A KLEENEX! I NEED A KLEENEX! IT'S RUNNING! IT'S RUNNING!!!!!! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I turned to Jackson, "Ya, I think it's about time to head home, huh?"
I'm sure he would've nodded, but the boogers frozen to his face made it too difficult.
It's amazing what a little hot coco and a cookie can do to thaw one out and heal their emotional injuries. The rink behind the house is melted now, and I don't think Ava really minds too much...we'll stick to snowmen in the meantime, and perhaps the pursuits of summer won't be so terrifying. Although that two-wheeler in the garage has me a little nervous now, even with it's training wheels, and even if the bike helmet is much nicer... it is pink after all....
wish us luck.
Have a wonderful weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment