Last night we FINALLY got some snow around here. (Umm, yeah, not counting that strange pre-Halloween snow that we got in October). I didn’t even know it was supposed to snow, and (rather embarrassingly) went to bed before it started last night, so I was shocked to see the ground covered in white when I woke up this morning! It was a decent “first snow”, too. Usually the first snow gets me all excited and then ends up being a lame dusting that turns to ice. But this was a few good inches of nice, fluffy stuff. The perfect amount — all of the ground was covered but the shoveling was easy, and there was no ice.
I opened the door to let the dog out this morning and squealed to Owen, “Snowwwwwww!”. He promptly said, “BUH bye” and tried to close the door. Ha! But once we got him bundled and ready to go to school he was shouting “Noooooo” right along with me.
Prior to the snow, though, this weekend was BITTER. That kind of biting, harsh cold where the wind seems to cut through all of your clothes and pierce your skin. When just being outside stings and any exposed skin is swollen and cracked.
We’re struggling with bundling up. Well, let me rephrase that. OWEN is struggling with bundling up.
He still adores going outside. He will stand at the back door to our deck, face plastered on the window, and whine, “Ayyoh! Ayyoh!” (Note: I have no idea why he still says some words totally incorrectly, even though he says nearly 200 words relatively clearly. Outside is one of them.). We need to walk Schnitzel anyway, so we’re outside at least once a day for a good stretch.
But then he refuses to wear his “Nyeh nyeh” (mittens).
Which is fine for a little while. But then when his skin gets all red and puffy, he holds his hands up and cries. And won’t put on mittens and won’t tuck his sad hands under the blanket and won’t let me hold them or blow on them to warm them up. Then our walk is over. And if we’re not home yet? He whines and sniffles and whimpers the rest of the way. So I end up stressed, power walking and dragging the dog the rest of the way.
You’d think he’d learn just to keep his darn mittens on!
We’ve been doing his regular clothes + fleece onesie (see above) + winter coat + boots + mittens + hat + blanket over him in the stroller. I have a set of bib overalls for when we play in the snow, but usually that seems like overkill. I use the cover on the stroller when we go for walks when the air is painfully cold (like this past weekend). I call it “the bubble” and made him think it’s a super fun treat to get to “ride in the bubble”, so he’s cool with being zipped in. For now. We’ll see how long THAT lasts.
The mittens thing is beginning to make me a little crazy. We’ve been using just cotton mittens, but unfortunately he can easily bite those off (even with mitten clips). I’m thinking I need some heavy duty ski mittens that go halfway up his arms so he can’t take them off. Anyone ever seen anything like that?
Do your kids wear tolerate mittens? Even a hat is a struggle with Owen, so I’m still squeezing his growing head into a small, 9-month old hat we have with a velcro chin strap. What can I say? The kid has a small head. So far he hasn’t figured out how to tear that off. At least not when he’s wearing his mittens.
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