By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
There was so much I needed to get finished last weekend. I had stories I needed to write and research. And I have a whole list of household projects I’d been putting off.
There’s a break in an underground electrical perimeter wire that I need to find and repair. I have a storage building that needs organizing, and a yard and porch in desperate need of some “spring cleaning”. With a power washer. And while our last big snow put a damper on most of those projects, I still had a toilet float I need to repair and laundry that I could have spent the day on.
But, I also had a toddler who hasn’t really had many opportunities to play in the snow.
He’s also been obsessed this winter with the book “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Keats.
We obviously aren’t in the city, or an apartment, and he doesn’t have friends and neighbors across the hall to play with. But he has parents who can go out in the snow if we put off some other chores. So, this is what I did. And he had a blast.
He chased the puppy. The puppy chased him. He slid down a sliding board and pushed all the snow in front of him. We built a snowman. A toddler sized snowman, sure, but a snowman. Three, stacked, graduated spheres of snow. Sticks from the nearby woods for arms. Gravel from the driveway for the eyes. And a carrot for the nose.
A carrot he promptly ate while rubbing his tummy and saying, “Mmmmmm! Snowman’s nose is nummy nummy.”
And I made him snowballs that he threw for the puppy to chase. And at me.
He’s been fascinated by the idea of snowballs since we first read about them in the Keats’ book, so he was really excited when I asked if he wanted me to make him a snowball to throw.
He promptly threw that first snowball back at me, giggling hysterically as he did so. He continued to laugh as he launched snowballs two, three, and four at me, counting down as he went, “One, two, six, seven, eight!”
Sure, he left out a few crucial digits, but he got the order correct. He’s only two, after all, and he’ll get there eventually.
It’s actually been an amazing privilege to watch this child grow and learn, and as his vocabulary grows, and he can communicate things to me, it’s been even more rewarding.
I feel like I can safely say it’s been the most rewarding thing in the world, at least to me.
I could win the lottery tomorrow, and it wouldn’t compare to the feeling I get when I ask him for a hug, and he responds with a kiss on the cheek – grinning broadly at me – before scampering off around the corner of the kitchen with an over the shoulder, “Bye bye, daddy! I love you!”
There’s truly nothing like it in the world.
So, I’m glad we spent the day playing in the snow. Sure, I could have been more productive instead. But it wouldn’t have earned me any of those precious giggles.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com