Snow is Yuck.

My Toddler boy who is now 3 was born during a Polar Vortex. It was bitter cold when we brought him home from the hospital. Needless to say, he isn't a fan of cold weather. The first 2 winters he was old enough, I tried in vain to bundle him in a snowsuit and boots and take him outside. This was a futile attempt because he would scream and cry and kick off his boots and yank his gloves off with his teeth and throw himself all around in the snow in tears, despite having older siblings who were bey clearly enjoying the snow and trying to take him with them down the hill on a sled. I have even tried just letting him walk out on our deck and check out the snow, giving him a chance to see and touch it on his own terms without having to get all bundled up. Once he got his hands on the cold wet snow, he had had enough. He loves playing in the water so I even let him go out in tennis shoes to stomp around, but nope. If he made it 5 minutes, that was a long time.

He was the only one of my kids who had never been sledding. I couldn't even find the 3T snowsuit, having never pulled it out of storage because why bother. He was out shopping with my husband on Sunday and when the cashier told him that there was going to be snow coming, he promptly said "I no like snow. Snow is Yuck."

So today we woke up to snow. Not the 1-2 feet like they were predicting when I went to bed last night. We got maybe 6 inches of snow with some ice on top, and that's being generous. We haven't had any other substantial snow all winter so this was our last chance. I got up and told all the kids to get dressed and moving, we were going outside in the snow. My darling 3 year old once again told me "Snow is Yuck." But then he watched our crazy dogs go outside, jumping around kicking and biting and throwing around all that glorious white stuff. He laughed and laughed at them. My husband and I bundled the little guys in too small snow suits (that's what happens when it's freaking March and I pulled out the snow stuff way back in October!) and took them outside. At first little 3 year old winced at the cold wet air hitting his face. But then I showed him the little sleds and a small enough hill to go down that was fast enough for him but easy to climb back up. Then he realized I could just pull him around in the "baby" sled. Then he realized we could kind of make a snow man, and oh look at that I can make a ball and throw it. And I can kick and knock my snowman down. Hey, it's fun to stomp around in the snow! So we played until his clothes were soaked through. After lunch he promptly passed out in my arms.

We went back out a little bit later after a nap and a snack. This time the older kids were just coming back from the big-kid hill and played with us. I actually got to take some video of him sledding and of the sibling snowball fight. I came back in as it started to get dark, only to discover that my dryer broke. So now I have a million articles of wet snow clothes plus other laundry hanging all over my house. School is already on a delay for tomorrow with a possible cancellation, and all I can think of is not having a dryer to properly dry snow clothes. Maybe my toddler was right after all.