Wind Chill

Last weekend it was cold. Each morning the thermometer temperatures in the single digits. Throughout the day, the numbers would crawl into the teens, but the wind, we knew, was whipping it down again. So we took the kids ice skating. Not surprisingly the pond was nearly deserted. We backed the tail gate up to the edge of the ice, cranked up the kiddie tunes, crammed Jasper's feet in to skates we picked up at the ski swap last year, and made a go of it. After about 40 minutes of preparations (suiting up, gathering gear, preparing snacks, driving to the pond), Jasper spent a total of ten minutes in skates before insisting on taking them off. Luckily, once he was in his boots, hockey stick in hand, he ignored the gusts of wind and had a blast chasing the puck. Peter and I even got in a few good laps.

Josie has maintained her strategy of dealing with cold weather that she developed as a baby: she goes in to hibernation mode. Jasper would, and still does, complain at the slightest hint of discomfort until comfort returns. He wails. Josie closes her eyes, completely stops moving, and is silent (a rare state for Josie these days). On Saturday we propped her up on the blue chair we had brought for stability and there she stayed. We pushed her around the ice and asked, "Is this fun, Josie?" She would give the most barely perceptible nod. "Are you sleeping?" A barely perceptible shake of the head. "Do you want to go in the car?" Shake. "Should we keep skating?" Nod. Not a peep until she was back in the car with her veggie booty. Then she admitted, "Me so cold, Mama." But didn't cry. And later bragged about how much fun it was to go skating on the ice.