Finally

Ever since Christmas I have been lamenting the lack of snow and itching to get Liam outside on his new sled. Finally this week, we got what I was looking for. It was only a couple of inches and the grass is still poking through, but it would have to do.

This past weekend was also our company social club’s trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. I think this place looks like a hoot and would have loved to go, but two things were holding me back: first, Liam may still be a bit too young to really take advantage of the facilities; and second, would I really want to be waddling around in a bathing suit in front of 100 of my coworkers in my current state? – I think not. I took Liam swimming over the Christmas break, and was mortified enough to run into a few people I knew for an hour at the community pool. It seemed safest to skip this weekend’s getaway and plan instead to go next year.

Cindy’s family did take advantage of the trip, and so she requested an early pickup on Friday afternoon. The snow began falling Friday morning and from our 5th-floor vantage at the office, it was quite a mess outside. I think my coworkers were a little suspicious that after a month of complaining about the lack of snow, I suddenly had a valid reason to take off early on the very day it finally arrived. Whatever. (Can you tell I’m in wind-down mode?) I picked Liam up, took him home, and with the benefit of a few hours to go before it would get dark, we stayed outside to play. Trouble was, he didn’t want to have anything to do with the sled. In fact, he was grumpy in general. We went for a walk, and when I started heading down the street in one direction and he wanted to go the other, he started to cry. Then he cried because he decided he didn’t want to walk after all. When I offered him the sled as an alternative, that was no good either. Ben the Golden Retriever came out from 2 doors down, and that perked Liam up a bit… right up until Ben chomped down on the stick Liam was dragging around and broke it. More tears. He was in a foul mood and nothing was going to change that.

When Chad came home I lamented Liam’s lack of interest in the sled. We took him out yesterday to try again. We conspired against him by planning to go for a walk around the block, a distance he can only half cover on his own two feet. Sure enough, by the time we got to the halfway point he started dragging. We offered him the opportunity to ride home in the sled. He protested, but we plunked him in and then Chad took off with Liam in tow. That was all it took: add some speed and a little thrill to the mix, and suddenly Liam was hooked. We didn't hear any more protesting until he protested going back inside when it got dark. (I may also have heard Chad's weary bones protesting a little as he ran laps around the yard with Liam + sled in tow, but my ears may have been deceiving me.)

We're supposed to get another 2" today. I can't wait.