Snow Fossils

For a boy who has a bit of a hard time in the imagination department, he sure does come up with some winners when necessary ...

After our 4-inch "it'll only be a dusting" snowfall last night, I knew I had some shoveling on my docket today. After hanging the first load of laundry on the clothesline in the basement and shoving in the second load, I figured it was then a good time to head outdoors. It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to bundle up the kids -- I could have been in and out, finished with my task, by the time the kids were ready to go. Ugh -- I expelled a tremendous amount of energy just shoving limbs into puffy snowsuits, tugging stiff and stubborn boots onto uncooperative feet, sliding thick mittens onto little hands. It was quite an aerobic exercise, to say the least. Finally, about 15 minutes later, we were ready to head outdoors.

The kids had fun, thank goodness -- you never know with them. When it was time to head out to the front of the house and tackle the sidewalk and driveway, the kids trotted along after me, thrilled to be able to play in the large mountains of snow, piled high from continually shoveled walks. That's when Aidan kicked his fledgling imagination into full gear:

"Gracie! Let's be snow paleontologists!

Well ... all right!

So Drs. Aidan and Grace set right to work, digging into the snow piles and making grand discoveries. Aidan found a plate from the back of a Stegosaurus, a partial fragment from the helmet of a Triceratops, the gigantic tooth of a T. Rex. Grace, a newbie in the field, produced an odd-shaped block of frozen snow -- "Look, Mommy! It's from a Stantostaurus!" Looks like she discovered a new species on her first try.

It was really cool to watch them in action and listening to their chatter. Of course, when I was finished shoveling, they were done with the Great Outdoors. I think they are now hungry and tired. Grace is sitting on her potty seat, wailing non-stop, "I don't want to go poopy! I can't go poopy! I want to get out of here!" Aidan walked by the bathroom and I heard one of those moments where my words somehow flew out of his mouth: "Well, Grace, if you stop whining about it maybe then you'll be able to poop!" I think the poor thing is actually stopped up -- a rarity for her. After about 10 minutes with her in the bathroom, perched uncomfortably on the edge of the tub, she finally found some words to express what's going on with her. "I have a tummy ache. I don't want to crack my butt in half." Ahhhh ... I think I can figure that one out. Poor kid.

What a Monday.