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Ah River. I stole a little one on one time with her yesterday. She is so patient and peaceful that sometimes we worry that she is always put last in the line up when it comes to food and diaper changes and the like because she doesn’t complain or cry. Just smiles and giggles and waits. Of course she cries sometimes but even then she is freakin adorable about it. So we make sure to keep it fair and equal and not let her down. She gets her turn at first in the chow line, gets her time in the “good” swing-the one that has a working spinning/mobile part, and gets a fresh diaper and clean clothes. Sometimes I feel like I need an app for tracking which kid got what, when. Of course that app does exist! But I think I will leave it up to my heart and my head and not my technology.

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We played in the snow…

We had to shovel snow…

Canyon and his toys played…dead? Sleeping?

The toys stalked Lilo…

Canyon wakes up for early morning therapy…

River lounges about with Kele De…

River and Raven practice for future wrestling matches…

Canyon read “The Hunger Games”…

Oh wait, that was me! I read a whole book!

We tried to play at the park but it was way too slippery. Still pretty and I think we get points for trying…

And River likes my phone…

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Canyon and I went upstairs around 10:30pm and curled up in his big blue chair by the window to watch the snow. I tried to think of Snow songs besides “Let It Snow” and that Snow song from “White Christmas but I was coming up blank. So I just sang the word “snow” over and over again to the tune of other songs. “The Little Drummer Boy” was one of my favorites- “snooww snow snow snow snow snow snow snow snowwwww”. Canyon handed me “The Snowy Day” board book by Ezra Jack Keats and we read by the light from the street.

Around 11pm inspiration struck. I looked at Canyon. I slipped open the window locks and said, “Ready?” Canyon’s eyes grew wide and he smiled and yelled “Set! Goooo!” I opened the window and then the screen. Yay! We could breathe in the snow, touch the snow, play with the snow, taste the snow, all in the comfort of Canyon’s room.

I put on a big show of tasting the snow but started to laugh and inhaled in a puff of snow and started to choke, like when you breathe in while eating a powder sugar donut. It was hysterical.

I grabbed the tube of glow sticks and I drew designs in the snow and planted them in the drift.

When the wind would kick up the snow would swirly wildly around the street light and we would cheer it on.

Finally it was time to warm our fingers and go to sleep. Canyon was sad but a warm bottle of milk made it all better. When he woke up this morning I could hear him in his room, oohing and ahhing over the snow.

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We finally have real snow falling here in Chicago and I wanted to make the day special for Canyon. So when he went off to co-op I decorated his room a little to honor the white and fluffy.

Snowman quilt and pillow on his chair so he can cuddle up and look at the snow through his big window. Laid out snowman PJ’s and an assortment of winter theme books for him to enjoy.

Then I decorated window with happy “Let It Snow” window decals.

I wasn’t sure if Canyon would react to the new display. It was more subtle than lets say a new toy, but I did it anyway. I didn’t get my hopes up and was doing it as much for myself as for him. I wanted to create a fun tradition and even if he didn’t know it today he would later on when he saw the photos.

But when he came into his room he totally went for the window! Of course he just threw the books to the floor at first so he could sit in the chair and look out at the snow. But he touched the decals and said, “ooohhh!” with a big smile on his face.

He liked it! He really liked it!

He was pretty tired from all the fun of co-op so he curled right up to watch the snow.

We practiced saying “snow” and he could mimic my long, drawn out “oh” sound and was clearly trying to say the “sn”. Exciting!

He even humored me and flipped through one of his books…

And when he wakes up from his nap he will have more snow to admire and his snowman statue is all lit up…

I hear him stirring now…

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It’s no park but our back yard is still pretty fun.

We played on the slide and swing. We blew bubbles. We frolicked with the streamers from the snowman windsock.

We played for an hour and I was finally sitting on the steps and dreaming of maybe being able to get everyone to nap at the same time so I could get some sleep too. I love a sunny doze. With the mulberry tree stripped for winter, the afternoon sun pours into the bedroom in a really comforting way and I was thinking how nice it would be to stretch out with cats and dog and kids for an hour or two. Then my phone rang. It was the new physical therapist for the twins asking if she could come a bit early for our 1:30 appointment. Crap. Totally forgot that was happening. So I had to lure Canyon in with promises of milk so I could get him off to sleep and then wake up the twins for their sessions. No nap for me! Just two hours of baby stretching and evaluations followed by an hour of baby feeding and just when I thought I had a minute to myself Canyon woke up.

Feeding and laundry and dishes and more feeding and more laundry and more feeding and playing and reading stories and watching Teletubbies and all of the other things that make up my days. Even now Canyon is sitting on my lap watching Teletubbies on Youtube as I try to type around him. Lucky I have a big monitor and can share the screen.

And just like this afternoon I am sitting here dreaming of getting everyone to sleep so that I can close my own eyes for a while. I am officially worn out. We are getting our first real snow tonight and I really should bring in a few more of the toys from the yard and the last few planters that I have on the verge of cracking and breaking. But I am also on the verge of cracking and breaking and no one is coming to rescue me! The cuckoo is about to call twelve times and I realize I have been at it non stop since 7am.

Sigh. Deep Breath. She got down but she never got tired, she’s gonna make it through the night.

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Another unseasonably warm day in Chicago so another day I couldn’t let pass us by without spending some time in nature. Canyon has double therapy sessions on Wednesday mornings-Speech Therapy and then Occupational Therapy, so we didn’t have much time before John had to go to work. One car and no child care kind of makes me feel like Cinderella some times. Today we could go to the park but I had to be home before the clock struck 12 and I turned back into homebound mom.

I had planned on just taking Canyon but I grabbed Lilo just as we were going out the door. It can be hard to wrangle them both if they are each excited about being outside but I hate that disappointed look Lilo gets when she knows I am going somewhere fun without her. So off we went to Gomper’s Park.

We did one giant loop around the park and I think the walk did us all some good. There was also a lot of running and it made it very clear that I need to either start wearing a belt or invest in pants that don’t threaten to fall to my ankles as I am chasing after Canyon! I must look ridiculous jogging down the path yelling, “Canyon! Wait up buddy!” with one hand dragging Lilo along by her leash and the other hitching up my pants.

We still had a few moments of calm. Canyon likes to sit by the water and look out onto the almost frozen river.

Everyone headed back to the car without fuss and I had us home at 11:55am but when we pulled up in front of the house Canyon started to sob. He didn’t want the fun to be over! So I called John and bargained for a few more minutes and we drove around the neighborhood while blasting “Blinded By The Light” with the windows down. It’s one of my top five favorite songs so it was a fun ride! But before the calliope could even crash to the ground I saw John waiting for us out front and knew that the magic was wearing off and it was time to go in. Canyon cried at having to go home and then cried even harder when he saw that John was going to work.

So I made it all better by taking him out in the yard to play…

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