Saturday, May 10, 2008

Winter Story


It’s almost the end of the school year, and throughout kindergarten Smoochie has transitioned completely from a preschooler into a full fledged boy. Not only does my 6 year old laugh at the word butt and entertain himself by seeing what body sounds he can imitate, but I heard Smooch and a friend giggling over “worm poop” the other day. His transition into big boy has been accompanied by an enormous effort to be more grown up and big with each passing day.

We had a very hard winter this year. I have to confess that to me it was miserable. It may have seemed even harder due to my pregnancy. Every time I turned around there was more snow for me to waddle through, more freezing cold my coat wouldn’t cover my belly for, and more ice for me to slip on.

One morning I bundled myself up the best I possibly could against the futility of my situation, and prepared to walk Smooch to the bus stop. After the full body workout of stuffing him into his cold weather gear, we left our house for the trip down the street a bit.

As we shuffled through the snow in the driveway and out into the eyeball freezing wind, I focused on not falling. By the time we got a few houses down we prepared to cross a driveway that had been shoveled at one point, but had accumulated more snow, forming a wet slippery mess.

I noticed my son stop short in front of me and turn around to check to be sure I was still there behind him. My heart melted for the caring and sweet little boy he had turned into. He was thinking about someone other than himself, and that always makes a mom proud. He looked up at me with his big blue eyes and said, “Be careful, Mom, it’s slutty out here.”

I tried not to laugh too hard, and replied, “Oh, sweetie, you mean slushy.”

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