Winter mix

Another snow day. But its early and we've already been outside which bodes well for my sanity. Its sunny, and the snow is light and powdery.

I owe the girls some decent sledding- and this is the perfect snow for it. Yesterday, when the snow started I got a bit premature about the sledding and took them to the park after picking up H at school. It was warm, (for February) the snow wasn't sticking, and the park was muddy. The snow was acting like rain- we were the only ones in the park. Thats ok, I'm happy to be crazy mud sledding mom. There was a woman walking by as we were getting out of the car- she had a huge coat with a hood that she could barely poke her face out of, and she was carrying a large painting that looked like it came from a thrift store. She smiled and I defensively said, "I know, I'm crazy being out in this" she assured me, "no, you're not crazy, I did the same thing with my kids." Nice to know I have company. I'll remember that next time I decide to take my painting for a walk in the snow.

My question now, do we walk to the park?

***
In my usual half assed scatterbrained way, I forgot I was writing this, left it unfinished, and walked us all to the park.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

It was pretty awful. The way there was fine- once at the park the snow was deep and hard to maneuver. There were big kids snowboarding- although they were pretty good- aside from yelling FUCK really loud all the time. I think I will never take S sledding again. What I needed was another grownup- I didn't have enough hands or pressence of mind to handle the deep snow, 3 sleds (one toddler sled and 2 small slider things- 3 sled sounds like much more than it was. But THREE sleds! Uphill both ways!) and every ones gloves and hats that kept flying off at odd intervals. I couldn't really sled with S, and our "sleds" (the slider things) suck. S was bored, she was cold, she thought we were going to the playground, (this I deduced from the arched back screaming and pointing all limbs in the direction of the playground. Genius) S wouldn't keep her mittens on. Her nose was running. The wind was blowing snow from the trees into her face. She was pissed. S is not one to be pissed quietly, so she started to FREAK the fuck out. I knew she was just mad, but the parents on the hill thought surely she had frostbite, or had lost a limb, or maybe I'd forgotten to feed her for days. They were sure she was being tortured. And thats what she was telling everybody, who are they to not believe her? S was so convincing that I started to worry that something was very wrong, so I fled the hill. The walk of shame, down the sled hill, praying you don't fall down the hill or get hit by a snow boarder.

H by the way, was fabulous. She was sledding like a pro, hitting jumps, going backwards, having a blast. I really wanted to sled with her, next time we leave Miss buzz kill at home. Luckily, just before S's freak out, I trusted the premonition I had and told H that was her last trip down the hill, so when I met her at the bottom, at least she didn't freak out. H did insist on being pulled in the sled S had been riding in, but was now refusing to sit in, she was also refusing to be put down. H wouldn't get out of the sled. I nearly threw myself on the ground at that point- go on! save yourselves! I can't make it..much...further... but I pulled it together- forced H out of the sled, forced S into the sled, which thankfully has a belt. I gave H the sternest look I could muster and growled that she better stop whining, then made her feel guilty that something may be wrong with her sister- (I really was doubting S just being mad at that point) and I dragged us home. Very, very, very loudly. We got in, S was ok- nothing very wrong with her at all, she was just tired of being there. And pissed.

But heres the thing, I don't trust my judgment sometimes, in my eagerness for everyone to just push through and deal with their discomfort. When do I stop? Oh you're fine it just a surface wound. Oh you're fine you still have 4 fingers left... I can't sift through the wolf crying.

Hours later I was coming home from taking H to the dentist (and buying cat food*) and my neighbor says, "ya go sleddin?" He saw me leave, he knows we went sledding. I have to acknowledge the screaming he heard all the way down the block. I say that S didn't have any fun at all. "yeah, she's too young for that" he says. Yeah, yeah, I know. Well, not to young to sled, but too young to appreciate our sledding mission. But H had fun, and for that it was worth it. And I couldn't possibly bore the neighbors.


* I hate buying cat food. Its the least frequent food I need to buy, but for some reason I am always inclined to feed the cat scrambled eggs, cereal, anything, to avoid buying more cat food. In the pet food aisle, we had to say hi to EVERY kitty and doggie we saw, on every can, on every bag. H says to S, "Can you believe all this stuff made from kitties?"