March 20, 2007 | Mama Smith

as promised

...pictures of us making due with this snowy weather…

Of course, there has been lots of book reading, lots of bubble baths…

What else beats a tub of warm water and bubbles on a cold day?

Lots of food play…

How do you get a toddler to eat his protein and veggies? By making a ridiculous sculpture out of them, of course. Brighton thinks “Ooo, what’s THAT!? Something strange and peculiar. Probably something I shouldn’t eat. Better shove it in my mouth before Mom sees.”...

...and voila, it’s gone. Works like a charm. Now if only I could figure out something creative to do with oatmeal? Maybe something involving a mini-catapult…

Before the park, we had to wait around for a girl to come buy our stroller from my craigslist ad, but Brighton wanted nothing to do with waiting. He woke up wanting to be outside and therefore immediately put on his hat, of which he wore for a full hour, casually saying over and over “Go? Park. Walk. Walk. Go? Outside.” As if he repeated it enough times, I’d somehow forget I’d been telling him we had to wait. Like “wait” means anything to an anxious toddler.

To pass the time, we made our own trash to sweep up…

Counter-intuative, I know, but he dearly loves both sweeping and throwing trash away for some reason these days and stayed occupied for a full minute or so. Okay, maybe a little longer than that.

When we were finally ready to go, I sat down to put on his shoes and kept having my sunglasses “traded” for his hat.

I couldn’t resist the photo op. Although, me attempting to wear his tiny hat would probably have made an even more humorous picture.

Lastly, here is the mysterious other creature, we like to refer to as Bigfoot, who also lives in our house, but has managed to avoid appearing in pictures much lately. Probably because his awake times are full of nursing or diaper changing or juggling him while corralling Brighton – all of which involve two (or more, if I had them) hands that can’t also manage the camera. He’s a beautiful little guy who’ll hopefully decide to grace us with his big eyes and goofy grin here soon though.

As for the snowy week thus far, we actually can’t complain, because even with the icey slush on the ground, the sun is shining and there’s even a bit of warmth in the air. We spent the morning at the soggy, snowy park, slipping and sliding on the ice and Brighton sneaking off to eat more sand and dirt-covered snow when I wasn’t looking. Gross. He’s totally going to be the kid that eats glue in preschool.