What do we do with winter?

Although Elise doesn't like
cold weather, she sure does
look cute prepared for it!
And she knows it.

Before I had kids, I loved winter. The fresh, deep snow, mugs of hot chocolate, cozy indoor activities and an excuse to more or less hibernate. Plus, the memories of giant snow tunnels, sledding and snowmen of childhood--what a season!

Loving winter, as Matt often reminds me, is not to be confused with loving going out into it as an adult. Sometimes I do--don't get me wrong--but the refrigerated sections of the grocery store can give me enough of a chill to send me as quickly into the canned goods aisle as possible, so you can imagine what actual sub-freezing temperatures do to me.

Now that I have kids, and young, easily chilled, whiny ones at that (hmm, do you think they take after their mother?), winter is no longer the wonderland it used to be. Instead, we need strategies to manage winter. Otherwise, we all end up stir-crazy and not very nice to each other.

Winter always starts off well enough: we have Christmas to kick it off. Besides, we've spent Fall playing outside in the beautiful weather, and are ready to hole up and bake something. But then there's January, and February, and occasionally even March.

What to do? Don't let boredom get the best of you! There's plenty of fun to be had indoors! Or so the magazines tell me.

Kalina cut out paper heart valentines
for all of the princesses in the house!
And their horses, ponies, prince, etc.

Crafts will keep away the winter blues! Pinterest practically shouts at me: You should be making snowflakes out of melted crayons! And snowmen out of old socks! Haven't you made play snow yet?!? The possibilities are endless, but the energy and supplies are not. 

But sometimes we get brave and we do attempt something more than coloring, or painting or stamps. It goes like this:

Finding a project that doesn't require a trip to the store, let alone expensive, hard-to-find materials, and that doesn't require 8-year-old skills: 30 minutes.

Gathering materials: 15 minutes.

Prepping project: 5-20 minutes.

Helping both kids do the project at the same time: 15 minutes working at a frantic pace as glue gets waved in my face, scissors get misused by the 2-year-old and components nearly get smashed, even while they're begging me to "Help me put this on!" or "Oops, I messed it up, waaaahhhh, Mommy fix it!" and the like.

Cleanup: 20 minutes.

Now the kids have the rest of the afternoon to fight/play/fight while I try to catch my breath for a minute before starting dinner.

And believe me, the final product is nowhere near Pinterest-worthy. But, in my defense, those kids are probably all spoiled.

I'm not, actually, a craft hater--I rather enjoy them--but I think an "I'll grab this, and this, and this" 2-year-old and an "I want mine to be as perfect as yours, Mommy, so can you just do it for me?" 4-year-old can make any craft more chore than charming.

And yet, the amazing thing is, sometimes we do crafts. 

Elise had been dreaming of this
cupcake all day, and nearly
exploded from anticipation. The
girls helped me bake, but not
frost. I am only human.

Baking. When Kalina was 2 or 3 and Elise didn't yet know how to say, "Let me help!," Kalina and I did a lot of baking. That winter, we each probably put on five pounds, because even homemade granola bars add up. Then, Elise started helping and the pressure of having a kid on each side of me, somewhat precariously balanced on a stool or chair, fighting over raw eggs and full bottles of oil seemed to ruin my appetite for oat muffins. Now, baking is a pretty special treat--as it should be.

Other moms make sure every snack his balanced and in the shape of an animal or smiley face. Those kids, too, are spoiled.

And yet, the amazing thing is, sometimes we bake. 

Our Valentine's party! 

Celebrate the mediocre, because at least then you're smiling. Groundhog Day has never been bigger than in the houses of preschoolers. In all fairness, sometimes it's hard to get them to care, despite the fact that kids will generally celebrate anything. "Why does the groundhog come out?" "How does it know what the weather will be?" "So if it sees its shadow, that means more winter? Or spring?" These are all legitimate questions. And while Mommy is about ready for either a really good snow or spring, the kids don't seem to care as much. But that's all we've got until mid-February, when it's finally Valentine's Day, an entirely Hallmark-created holiday (and so far, Hallmark has barely touched Groundhog Day, with good reason. Because what do you put on the card? "Hope it's spring for you soon?"). We go all out for Valentine's Day, because it's bright and cheery--everything we need. Kalina has cut out about four dozen hearts (which means I've drawn about six dozen as Kalina improves her scissor skills--which I'm very proud of her for, by the way), and stuck jewels and stickers on a dozen more. Elise has glue-sticked her way through quite a few herself (it's her favorite writing utensil). Look, we're doing crafts! Heart crafts are about the easiest, so we do a lot of them. Then, for lack of anything better to do, we plan a Valentine's Day party. And look, we're all smiling! Love is in the freezing cold air.

With cousins Hailey and Teagan!
Since Teagan kept escaping unless
she was held, Kalina and Elise
decided that Elise needed to be
held, too.

Getting energy out. Elise already knows the meaning of this phrase. In fact, sometimes she'll run circles on the rug, telling onlookers that she's "getting her energy out." If my poor toddler has to run circles on the rug, however, it's a sign we need to go to a park! Except, usually, it's too cold for any of us to tolerate that for more than 10 minutes, and that's not worth the fight to get everyone's shoes and coats and hats on. So we go other places, but there's nothing like the park--either running is barely tolerated (although I think even the harshest employees know that it is, in fact, winter) or a hundred other moms had the same idea, which means there are two hundred other children competing with yours for floor space.

And yet, the amazing thing is, sometimes we go out anyway and temporarily remove a portion of the pent-up energy. 

Why not just go outside? And why not, really? It might be cold, but it also might be fun. Especially in St. Louis, where the temperature sometimes gets above 40! In all fairness, it also has gotten up to 60 once or twice, at which point we borrow any necessary groceries from the neighbors so we can play outside instead of spend a sunny afternoon at the store. These are the good days, because the neighbor kids are out too and all of a sudden Mommy is not the most popular playmate. On the 40-degree days, if it's sunny, we still might try to play outside in the afternoon, but it's a forced play. Elise is usually ready to head inside within 10 seconds (yet refuses all offers of mittens). Kalina does seem to have fun, and sometimes they even have a little fun on their own so I can sit on a short, cold cement step and watch them and shiver and dream of the day, kind of, when I'll be inside folding laundry while they're outside. Not that I don't like the outdoors, and all the whimsical good-mommy things we can do out there, but we've done all of them already and my motivation to be outside is too weak to do anything but grin and bear it. Creativity will wait for warmer temperatures.

And I agree that we're rather weak when it comes to temperatures, by the way. I blame it entirely on North Carolina. And yet, sometimes we play outside anyway.

Of course, snow is a special case. I've noticed that for the most part, it snows on weekends and holidays when Daddy's around. I'm not sure to what I owe this phenomenon, but I appreciate it, because Daddy likes the outdoors even more than the girls do, so I don't feel too bad sending the three musketeers out together and sitting inside with a mug of hot chocolate, or even a pile of laundry, I don't really care, because I'm warm and the kids are getting lots of good-quality outdoor play. Plus, Daddy is MUCH more fun than Mommy outside, trust me. 

Who wants to watch TV? The real question is, who wants to watch it more than Mommy does? No one! Nevertheless, while other good parents allow as much as 1-2 hours a day, I feel guilty if mine see that in a week. Even in the winter. Because they should be outside, or doing crafts, or getting their energy out! But sometimes I relax my standards and we turn on the tube. I'm just grateful they both enjoy it, because when we're all cranky with each other after the little one hasn't napped the past six days, and yet no one would ever consider willingly playing alone in their room because that would mean being out of sight, hearing and grabbing distance of Mommy, we just need to tune each other out for a bit. 

Hot chocolate, anyone? And of course, there's hot chocolate. Hot chocolate that's always a little too hot if it's a degree over lukewarm, so I end up blowing on theirs while mine cools down to a not-so-cozy room temperature. Not that I serve it to them as anything more than medium-warm, I just harbor a strange notion that hot chocolate should, actually, be a bit warmer than slightly chilled (or, in my case, nearly boiling). It must just be me. They've also discovered that marshmallows often go with hot chocolate, so it's no longer a nearly innocent treat (the way I make it involves only a spoonful of sugar for several servings). It always gets dripped on clothes, tablecloth, floors, you name it, finding its way even out of a sippy cup.

And yet, sometimes we have hot chocolate anyway.

No, not everything about winter is miserable. Nevertheless, I think we'll all welcome Spring with open arms.