Child Adopts Wayward Snow Chunks

We didn’t have much of a snowy winter last year, so yesterday was probably the first day in Kina’s life that she really got to play in the snow. The local schoolyard was unlocked, so Kina got to roll around in a rare pristine patch of the chilly stuff, grabbing up hunks of crusty snow in her arms and cradling them like little babies. There’s not an inanimate object on earth that Kina won’t somehow adopt. Laurea managed to convince her to leave all that snow at the schoolyard, which saved us from having to deal with the melting issues that plagued the protagonist of The Snowy Day. I have always found that melted snowball scene uncommonly sad, for what it’s worth, and it comes far too close to the end of the book, which I think should call into question its Caldecott Medal—but I digress. Kina loved the snow, which of course makes her parents happy.

At the same time, our expectations for how much she would love building snowmen came up short. Kina was neither patient enough to roll a snowman nor trusting enough of their carrot noses to build one of her own; we may have to wait a bit before she’s a snowman girl. I feel like she hasn’t picked up on the snowman from Frozen; Olaf, I think? Maybe it’s Olaf she’s skeptical of, actually. I don’t know anything about that snowman, but I don’t really like any reanimated snowmen—even Frosty, for that matter. Actually, I think I don’t like snowmen. She gets it from me.

The snow, one day later, is gross now, as is often the case in New York. I’m glad we got her out there before it all turned gray. We’ll teach her to moan about slush soon enough, but she had a great run while it was good.

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