Snow Day!

After much anticipation, Robby experienced his first official snow day! Yesterday morning I was woken by the phone at 5:00 AM. A call at that hour can only mean one of two things: somebody has died or school has been delayed or cancelled. Thankfully, the purpose was the latter of the two options. Upon hearing the news of his delay, Scott turned off his alarm and went back to sleep. Knowing that any attempts at my falling back to sleep would be fruitless, I quietly drank coffee in the living room and waited for the sun to rise.

At dawn, I was surprised by the landscape. Instead of our yard being covered with mounds of fluffy white snow, I saw about an inch of snow with blades of grass and dirt poking through. We certainly didn't get much, but apparently it was enough to cancel Robby's school and delay Scott's for two hours.

Robby was delighted when I broke the snow day news. He immediately began begging to go outside to play. I was trying to buy some time (for another cup of coffee) by telling him that he had to eat his breakfast first. In one swift move he jammed his Eggo into his mouth and declared breakfast over. We were bundled up and playing in the snow by 8:00.

Robby's first objective was shoveling Mr. Bill's walkway. Honestly, we didn't have enough snow to necessitate shoveling. However, he seemed insistent that we do it and I knew that he would have fun. We grabbed our shovels and headed across the street, kicking blades of grass and stomping down the mole tunnels on the way.

Mr. Bill came outside as soon as Robby threw his final shovel full of snow and tried to give him a dollar. Interested in how Robby would handle this exchange, I stepped back and simply watched. Instead of taking the money, Robby said, "No, thank you" and offered the following explanation.  "Mr. Bill, do you remember in the summer that you fixed my fishing pole a lot of times? Well, you said that I can shovel your snow for you because you helped me. So that's what I'm doing now." Mr. Bill smiled and put his money away.

With the shoveling task completed, we set out to try his new sled. Robby received the sled two Christmases ago and has only been able to use it one time. He's been chomping at the bit to get it out and see how it rides. Even though we only had an inch of snow, he was able to fly down the hill.  I'm pretty certain that his giggles could be heard down the street!

After a few hours I was ready to come inside. My gloves were drenched and my foot was freezing. (A surprising benefit of being an amputee is that only one foot gets cold in the snow. It took me a few winters to realize that I only needed one boot.) Thankfully our neighbor came down to play for a few hours while her Mom went to an appointment. I was happy to help watch her, and Robby had a snow playmate. The arrangement was a win-win for everybody!

Robby and Rowan spent the remainder of the afternoon playing outside. They experimented with ice fishing but quickly discovered that the stream was frozen. Quick to adapt, they decided to go ice collecting instead. When I saw them wading and splashing in the frigid stream, I had to play my mean Momom card and call them inside to dry off. They were pink cheeked and smiling ear to ear as they warmed up under the electric blankets while roasting marshmallows in front of the fireplace.

With the excitement of playing in the snow fresh in his memory, I hesitate to tell him the weather forecast. Tonight we are supposed to receive several inches. If this comes to fruition, I predict lots of snow fun in our future.