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Friday, January 21, 2005

Winter blues

Is it too early to be wishing for spring? I'm looking at the Old Navy website, lusting after all these cute spring-time clothes that I know will not be able to be worn until April, at least. But the sad part is, the clothes aren't for me. They're for the girls. I have this vision (ironically enough, roughly the same vision as last year about this time) of Emma running through the tall green grass in a park, kicking a ball, with Sarah looking adorable in a sundress, playing in the sand. What really happened last year, after all this snow melted, was we stayed indoors, watched way too much TV and silently cursed the hords of mosquitos that had conquered our backyard as their own breeding ground. Now I really understand how lucky people have it where it doesn't snow. Like San Diego. Oh, the sweet visions of San Diego running through my mind. Especially this week, when the mercury's been dipping BELOW zero, and it's 80 degrees in SD. I have to bundle the children up, so they end up looking like mattresses siting in their carseats, fighting the bitingly cold wind and trying not to slip on the copious amounts of ice that have formed on my driveway. It's not as bad here as it is elsewhere, and boy am I glad it's not. Somewhere in Minnesota it got down to about -54? Ok, WHY DO PEOPLE LIVE THERE? If it got that cold here, I don't care HOW much more school Jeff has, we'd be gone. Especially since this whole "winter" season really lasts about 6 months instead of the 3 that it says on the calendar. It starts getting cold about mid October & doesn't really warm up until the end of April. There aren't 4 seasons here, there's 2 1/2 - winter, about 1 month total that could be considered spring and fall, and summer.
You'd think with all the things that we have going on during the winter that it would make it go by quicker, but you'd be wrong. All these birthdays, holidays & trips to places that aren't considered "tundra" just seem to elongate the cold. I now see why people here try to take advantage of the warm weather when it's here. Last year, after the thaw, people were buying plants & flowers like crazy, every day there were long lines at Doozie's (a local ice cream place), and everyone seemed to be outside all the time. At first, I didn't get it, especially about the plants (what's the point, they'll be dead in 6 months). But now I realize that they KNOW the weather's not always going to be pleasant, so they get as much out of it as they can. Hopefully this year we'll be able to do the same. They have a lot of activities during the spring & summer, most of which I put on the calendar last year & never did. But, I plan on putting Emma in swim this summer, and going to the park at least 3 times a week. They also have the program called PEAK, which is from 9-5pm everyday for 6 weeks. It's educational, but fun. It's for kids in grades K-6, but I'll have to see if Emma qualifies, as she won't be in Kindergarden until August.
Speaking of which, we finally had Emma's Fall semester review with her preschool teacher. Mrs. Wright says Emma's doing really well on the goals that we'd set out for her before the school year. She still has some problems with transitioning from one activity to another, but not nearly as bad as she was. She's good with helping other kids resolve their differences, but it's another ballgame when SHE'S the one who's arguing with another child. Mrs. Wright says her pre-writing skills are great and that she's really bright (which of course, we already knew). So I feel better after that. She doesn't think her speech delay will affect her adversely in Kindergarden.
So, even though it feels like this winter is dragging on forever, I know I still have a lot to accomplish before spring. And, knowing me, I'll probably procrastinate and then wish it were still winter so I'd have more time.

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