Snow at last

This past week has been a hard one on the old work front. Last Thursday, the kids' day care center was closed early due to a storm that failed to materialize (for us, anyway), and today it was closed because they had no power (due, I believe, in some way to the bone chilling (and, for us, pipe-freezing) cold we had last night). The cold led also to a school delay for our county, so Gwen was late going to school and Xav never did go to school. Tomorrow we will almost certainly have another day off school, courtesy of the first real snowstorm of 2007 (well, 1-3 inches, but we'll take what we can get.)

All in all, though, this may have been a good thing, because it allowed them to have more "quality time" with their Dad on his birthday. They like playing this game they call "Super Spies" where they try to sneak up on you and watch you. Today, they played a variation on that where they would sneak up on Adam and break into a chorus of "Happy Birthday to You." Adam said that after the first couple thousand times, the song was firmly lodged in his head, but that they were too cute for him to get tired of it.

So, as I said -- the first real snow of the season. For weeks and weeks, we have been promised snow that failed to materialize. I bought the kids a sled at the beginning of the season, so for a long time I felt I was somehow personally responsible for our warm winter. In any event, today when I went to pick Gwen up from school, it was starting to flurry a little. "Look, guys, it's snowing!" I said.

"Yeah, whatever, mom," Gwen said. "It's not like it will really stick this time."

"I think we're supposed to get a little bit of snow," I pushed.

"No way, Mom, we NEVER get snow. For real," Xavier chimed in. Only five and four, and already jaded. Sigh.

Then we got home, and it started to snow a little harder. "Hey, guys!" I suggested. "Let's go outside." This, knowing I have a deadline to meet at the end of the week and that I have lost almost half a day to babysitting Xav. But, hey, this may be THE snow of 2007!

"No thanks, Mom," Gwen says, studying a calendar she just received in the mail. "It's too cold outside."

"Yeah, too cold," Xav agreed. I started to wonder if my kids were sick or something -- turn down an invitation to play in the snow?

"Mommy," Xav chimed in, "I love the X-men video. I'm going to be an X-man when I grow up ... if I can get any X-man powers." He said this with the same sincerity with which I might say, "I'm going to get my Oracle DBA certification, if I can find time." Except that there is probably an equal chance of either of these things happening. Maybe I can fudge the odds by seeing if they have a special on mutant powers at K-mart.

At this point, my neighbors stopped by to drop off a thank-you note for the gifts we gave her daughter on her fourth birthday. They hadn't thought we would be home, but when I invited them in, her two year old said, "Sure, okay," and clambered in, shedding his jacket, before the two females in the group had a chance to respond.

Anyway, so they came in, and in short order Gwen decided she wanted to do a "Science Experiment" on the back deck. Now, all of a sudden, playing in the snow was cool. My neighbor and I decided it would probably be safer to play in the level front yard, rather than the deck with its eight foot staircase to the ground. As we were getting the younger kids ready to go out, I glanced out the window onto the deck and saw Gwen dancing around in a little circle.

"That's odd," I remarked. "She doesn't look like she's doing a science experiment at all. She looks kind of like she needs to go --"

Just then Gwen started chanting something I could just barely hear, but she said it in kind of a sing-song way, like:

Bathroom! Bathroom!
I need to go to the bathroom!
Bathroom! Bathroom!
I need to go to the bathroom!

Anyway, all emergencies were averted, and soon all four kids were in the front yard. For awhile, the neighbor kids were making snow angels in my driveway as Gwen and Xavier looked askence ... until their mother noticed that the asphalt was leaving black marks on their coats. Then they ran over and started making snow angels on their own driveway, while my kids just ran around like maniacs. Every time I took a picture, Xavier made a karate pose -- not sure if that is related to his upcoming belt test or if he is just practicing for his future career as a superhero.

Too cold -- or busy -- to go out in the snow? Now, that's just crazy talk!