On the Weather

I've lived in Ohio now for the better part of seven years and while I tend to still find the snow and winter highly magical, February gets me every time. February in California is spring time. Flower blossoms, warm breezes, and driving with the top down. Here we are knee deep (quite literally) in snow and ice and pretty much the coldest part of the winter. It's hard to believe that we will ever be warm again. 

Being cooped up inside, I've been working on a two-color brioche cowl (free pattern from the Purl Bee) that was for a class I taught at my LYS. While I had planned to get the cowl done by the end of the class, I've been having some fairly severe hand pain that kept me from knitting a few weeks ago. So now I'm back at it and about halfway done. 

Being cooped up also means toddler problems. I happen to have a pretty active 2 year-old who has the energy of 10 men most days and this weather is not really conducive to going outside. We did venture out this morning for about 10 minutes before the wind was too much (that was also before the wind was -8, it was still a balmy 27 with a windchill of 17 then). The fresh air helps, but I notice tantrums flare up immensely on days like this. 

We made a trip to Target tonight for some much needed supplies (I wish everyone could have seen my cart stuck in the snow while I tried to get back to my car!) and picked up some craft supplies. D enjoyed painting after dinner and moved from using the brush to using a dinosaur to paint tracks. 

Ideas on keeping your toddler engaged during house-bound times? We've done indoor basketball, indoor slides, we have a huge sensory pool inside right now filled with plastic balls (yes, like Chuck E Cheese), we do snow sensory tables, painting, play dough. Nothing is quite enough for a full weekend when what we really need is some sunshine and fresh air.