Cabin Fever: Blizzard 2011

"Andrew, give me the scissors, put your pants on, and clean up all that hair." Add that phrase to the list of things that I never thought I would say. Well, here's how it happened.

February 2011 turned out to be record-breaking in snow fall, temperatures, and days missed from school. For a girl on maternity leave, all of these things equal cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching. While others looked outside at the snow and ice and saw white, I saw green. For each day that the school was closed, I earned a "free" day of maternity leave. I never thought I would work so hard to earn a "free" day until I was locked in the house with a 3 year old boy and a newborn.

Day 1: Hello snow day! Chris has to go to work, so he dug his car off and headed out into the great white wonder. See you later, sucker. I'm all cozy inside and enjoying a fun movie day with my two little angels. We popped those movies in one after another, took a nice long nap, and then popped in some more. We all had a great day. Yay for a snow day!

Day 2: What's this? More snow and ice? Why thank you, and I will take that extra "free" day. My son knew the routine from the previous day, so he wanted to pop in movie #1, which was actually movie #1 from day 1. I said no way, Jose. I stupidly asked him to pick another movie, so he picked #2 from day 1. Noticing a pattern, I put all the unwatched movies on the TV stand and told him to pick from those. He did, and we navigating through the day with breaks between movies for crafts, naps, and baking.

Here's where the trouble started. Mommy and Andrew decided to bake some oatmeal raisin bars. Andrew had fun until about minute 3 when he realized you can't eat them for a long time. I let him go back to his crafting and movie watching. A few minutes later, I pour the batter in the pan, and I catch something strange out of the corner of my eye: naked toddler toosh. Uh-oh.

As I approach the scene, here's what I see. The living room looks like someone smashed a pinata of confetti, crumbs, and hair. Apparently, Andrew took a potty break (good), left his pants off afterward (well), and decided that he wanted to practicing cutting shapes (oh, no). After 3,000 tiny triangles, he got bored and gave his golden locks a trim, too.

So, I calmly say "Andrew, give me the scissors, put your pants on, and clean up all that hair." I tried to show him the damage to his 'do in the mirror, but he's three and a boy. He didn't care. His response, "Are the cookies ready?"

Day 3: I don't know if I can do this anymore. I need to go for a walk, run around, or see someone else other than my sleepy infant and stir crazy toddler. Enter the Clarkes. They came like angels with a peppermint mocha and their children to play with my son. Day 3 went by super fast. Yay, Clarkes.

Day 4: Things outside started to melt a little, so Andrew went outside. I didn't care that it was 15 degrees, and Andrew didn't either. He just needed to be out. So, I poured a bunch of salt on the porch, and out he went. I watched from the door.

Once the blizzard of 2011 ran its course, we were no worse for the wear. Sure, we were short several sheets of construction papers, a few locks of hair, and an entire tray of oatmeal bars, but I got plenty of quality time with my babies!

Oh yeah! Caroline also got to "play" in the snow for the first time. Andrew made snowballs, and Caroline "made" snow angels. Let's go with that. At least she was warm. Warm? Yes. Happy? Not so much. Did I mention I was mother of the year?

:)

Anne