Driving across town on Saturday, I excitedly imagined the girls finally getting their first real snow experience (they were too little last year). The snow was heavily falling at that point and covering the city in white. I spent the next two hours hanging out at a kid-free, cake decorating, girls time with Janelle; something very long overdue!
By the time I returned home, I was quite dismayed to see that South Anchorage was only producing rainfall and the snow flurries had disappeared. Even more disappointing, our front yard was not a freshly coated white but still a depressing, winter green.
I have a love hate relationship with winter. Growing up I loved playing outside, going sledding, all of it. Into my teenage years, I really didn’t like to drive in it and was less appreciative of the conditions. But as an adult, I’m now at a place that I enjoy the blanket of white around my house; I enjoy the winter holidays and the fun that comes with it (although clear roads are nice). The holidays just don’t feel right without some snow. It makes our houses feel cozier, more festive even, and makes people that are less than thrilled about winter enjoy summer even more. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I can’t wait to get everyone together for a meal and enjoy the holiday with some winter activities.
Anyway, we waited until after dinner and into the typical Alaska darkness, but finally had enough snow on the back deck to suit up the girls and check it out first hand. This is the first time we’ve worn the snowsuits from Papa Cliff, mostly because due to the lack of actual winter weather; outside playtime only required fleece pants, coats, hats and boots.
I can already tell getting snowsuits and boots on three mobile toddlers will be an adventure for the whole season. Getting them off might be even harder, with cold fingers, wet boots and three girls that want to do it themselves. Since the dressing process is relatively similar to putting on a sleep sack, they cooperated pretty well to laying on their suit while we put each extremity in the right place. Emerie’s snowsuit is a bit big; she looked like a purple sumo wrestler waddling around (so we switched and she is now in the blue one) and Harper’s is a bit too long-we will need to find a smaller size for her this winter.
Harper 
Emerie 
Reagan
After a couple minutes outside, we opened the backdoor so everyone could wander back into the warm house. This was promptly ignored by everyone…so we stayed out a little longer. I’m not surprised at the enthusiasm; they are Alaskan babies after all and there is so much to see! We checked out the snow, made some snowballs, inspected the snow covered Christmas lights and watched them have an ice dance off.
In typical dad style, Craig tossed a few snowballs their way. I use the word tossed lightly…because he nailed Emerie right in the face. She did not appreciate that, but she didn’t cry either! Reagan tried to throw them back at him. Harper stayed safely away in the log cabin or castle.
On Sunday we decided to hold on additional snow play and took the girls swimming, meeting up with some friends and checking out the local YMCA (at the mall!). The warm water pool was met with far more enthusiasm than the cold one we visited a few weeks back. This pool also has a massive locker room and a tiny room that we could easily contain our runners while we dressed and undressed. I am also thrilled to report that we finally completed a swimming even without any poop mishaps. Don’t judge, that is a milestone.
After a late, post swimming and lunch nap time, but before the sun completely set and depressed the outdoors back into the daily darkness, we suited everyone up and loaded into the sleds for an adventure around the block.
The girls all inspected the sleds beforehand, climbing in and out and pulling them around by the cords. I’m pretty excited that I found them for $5.00 each at the consignment sale last month, and while we will outgrow them pretty quickly, it will provide a ton of entertainment this winter!
The adventure was a success and both Craig and I were sweating by the time we returned to the house while the girls had cold hands and red noses. The neighborhood streets are pretty icy, but the more we more bumps the better according to the little ones. They chatted and giggled all the way around the block and lost their minds at the end when we took them out of the sleds to play in the backyard. We couldn’t convince anyone to wear their mittens, Reagan wouldn’t wear her hood so she was given a hat, and by the end of the loop Emerie was hood free as well. Everyone slid down a bit in the seats and we kept sitting them back up; I think the “gangster slouch” was pretty cute.
As the sun started to set we played outside a bit longer. The girls ate their fill of snow and once the whining started we ventured back inside. I look forward to many more snow days like this, especially over the holidays, and hope we see a lot of snowfall this year (I’m being optimistic). At least the first couple days of snow were a success in the toddler playbook!
On a completely unrelated note and one for the memory book, potty training may be right away the corner, at least for one of the three! Reagan came over to me the other night, sat down on the couch cushion and tugged at the back of her diaper, saying “poopy.” First off, I didn’t know she knew that word; secondly that she would actually associate it to the action! Optimistically, we would love to start the potty training by their second birthday…realistically, I don’t know if they will be ready for it yet. But! Reagan is giving me hope it’s right around the bend.
❤
The Douglets 