bye, bye winter

I, for one, don’t mind that winter is over, but Parker sure does. Here he is enjoying the last of the snow from a blizzard we had last week. Even though it’s much warmer now, it’s taken forever for all the snow and ice we had to melt. Strangely, just two days before the blizzard, it was 70 degrees and we went to the park and ate ice cream cones. ?!?!?!

Parker, may have been the only one in town to be excited about winter’s unwillingness to go down without a fight. “It’s snowing,” he screamed, jumping up and down while I looked for his mittens. He could not have been happier to go outside and ‘help’ his dad shovel the snow from the steps.

I’m not sure how it happened-he certainly didn’t inherit it from my share of the gene pool- but this kid loves snow! Maybe every kid does. But his love seems to extend beyond the initial excitement and novelty of watching it fall from the sky. Every day that he wakes up and sees it, it’s as if he’d never seen it before. “There’s snow outside,” he’s yelled every morning for the entire week we’ve been waiting and hoping it would melt already.

And this year, he’s developed a strange fascination with winter sports. I really don’t know where that comes from. God help him if he likes any sports actually, since his parents are pretty clueless about most, unless you count yoga.

Anyway, he’s asked to go ice skating and skiing more times this winter than I’m comfortable remembering. We didn’t get around to trying either and I feel a little guilty about that. But something tells me we’ll definitely be skating and skiing next year.


Pic that Parker wanted to take 'BACKWARDS'.

Parker is Artist of the Week

I was so stoked to see what Parker had created for his moment in the art room sun. Every week his art teacher chooses a different student's work to display. This week it's Parker's turn. Regarder le chef-d'oeuvre:



The words in the pic are kind of small, so here's what it says:

Artist: Parker
Title: A Bulldozer
Summary: The bulldozer has a digger and it goes inside holes. And it digs the hole. And it has a dumper too. And I drew Muck.
Media: Tempera Paint on White Construction Paper


The summary is in the artist's own words (in case you couldn't tell). And for the unitiated, Muck is of Bob the Builder fame; Bob the Builder being Parker's yearlong obsession.

It's funny, for a long time he wasn't at all interested in painting, coloring or drawing. I'd bought him a ton of art supplies and an easel thinking we'd paint together. Or better yet, that he would entertain himself painting while I cooked dinner, or washed the dishes. But everytime I'd say, let's paint; he would most always decline and run off to play with Bob the Builder.

So I'm rather happy with this development. I don't think he'll give up Bob anytime soon but at least his obsession seems to be taking on more creative channels. Now, if only I could apply some creativity to my efforts not to hate Bob, we'll be in business. ;->

ps. Here's a second pic, taken at Parker's insistence that he wanted to take one with his hat 'DOWN'.