Just to show what I mean, here's the yard from the end of the day yesterday and at the bottom of this post, I will put another picture of the yard midday today. It is spring, in January. The opportunity to play outside again without multiple layers of clothing made Maxim delighted. It
seemed to make Noah delighted too, until the plastic wheels on his plastic car got wet and covered with sand. That condition violated one of those aesthetic
hangups that he has, like not liking to see doors left open and hating to have things on his plate that he isn't going to eat. "Clean it, Daddy!" he screamed. Most assuredly, no, I thought. He screamed more and ran into the road.
Tired, I thought, grabbed him took off his shoes and put him in his bed with a small cup of warm milk. "I don't wanna sleep," he muttered as I walked out of the room. "I know." I said without stopping. Maxim made round-trips up and down the right-of-way for a half an hour. She would ride by me sitting on the porch with a new trick each time. "Look Daddy, I can pedal with my feet up here." "Wow!" "Look Daddy, I can hold the handles like this." "Isn't that something?" "Look Daddy, I can make the back part spin." "Mmmmmm"
Then she parked at the base of the porch and asked about the book I was reading. "Should we get chalk?" I asked. "For what?" she said. "To draw on the street." She looked at the street and thought about it for a second, then nodded. "We could get the big chalk," she said following me inside with her instructions. "This is my favorite day in my whole life," she exclaimed, looking for superlatives and finding a few too many. She drew heart-headed stick figures and clothed them in t-shirts and skirts. She drew a sunflower and then copied the word 'sunflower' from the side of her bicycle. Catherine came by after 3:00 and the two of them composed a masterpiece of chalk art along the street by the side of the house. Later they played quietly in the playroom while I worked in what has become my new office. It is part of a convertible set, the office components tuck away for meals and family time, and I feel less awkward eating at my desk. Anyway, the snow melted. Completely. The kids asked if they could camp outside. Another week behind us. Another strange January.
Just to show what I mean, here's the yard from the end of the day yesterday and at the bottom of this post, I will put another picture of the yard midday today. It is spring, in January. The opportunity to play outside again without multiple layers of clothing made Maxim delighted. It seemed to make Noah delighted too, until the plastic wheels on his plastic car got wet and covered with sand. That condition violated one of those aesthetic
hangups that he has, like not liking to see doors left open and hating to have things on his plate that he isn't going to eat. "Clean it, Daddy!" he screamed. Most assuredly, no, I thought. He screamed more and ran into the road. Tired, I thought, grabbed him took off his shoes and put him in his bed with a small cup of warm milk. "I don't wanna sleep," he muttered as I walked out of the room. "I know." I said without stopping. Maxim made round-trips up and down the right-of-way for a half an hour. She would ride by me sitting on the porch with a new trick each time. "Look Daddy, I can pedal with my feet up here." "Wow!" "Look Daddy, I can hold the handles like this." "Isn't that something?" "Look Daddy, I can make the back part spin." "Mmmmmm" 
Then she parked at the base of the porch and asked about the book I was reading. "Should we get chalk?" I asked. "For what?" she said. "To draw on the street." She looked at the street and thought about it for a second, then nodded. "We could get the big chalk," she said following me inside with her instructions. "This is my favorite day in my whole life," she exclaimed, looking for superlatives and finding a few too many. She drew heart-headed stick figures and clothed them in t-shirts and skirts. She drew a sunflower and then copied the word 'sunflower' from the side of her bicycle. Catherine came by after 3:00 and the two of them composed a masterpiece of chalk art along the street by the side of the house. Later they played quietly in the playroom while I worked in what has become my new office. It is part of a convertible set, the office components tuck away for meals and family time, and I feel less awkward eating at my desk. Anyway, the snow melted. Completely. The kids asked if they could camp outside. Another week behind us. Another strange January.
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