On Christmas morning, Everett woke up and looked out his window, as he does every morning, and he asked why it wasn’t snowing. In so many of the Christmas books and movies we watched, it snowed, and so he expected the impossible to happen on Christmas, in the same way he believes in the magic of Santa.
We had to explain that it doesn’t snow in San Diego, not even on Christmas.
Then, Everett, Matt, and I became fascinated and intrigued watching the Winter Olympics together. I have fond memories of watching the Olympics with my family as a kid, and this year it was fun to watch with Everett. He is at the age where everything is new and exciting, since he’s never seen any of it before. (He had a particular affinity for the curling, because they got to sweep the ice, and he has a love of brooms.)
All of that led to a desire to learn about snow in school, so I planned some activities for us.
On this particular day, we tried to make snow, and it was the absolute worst activity we have ever done. I searched online for ideas on how to make fake snow, and I found a recipe that was described as "easy:" mix corn starch and white lotion. I have no idea where we went wrong, but this was the messiest thing we have ever created. I tried to power wash the deck after this activity, and there was still “snow” residue.
One of my parenting best practices is that water can usually fix anything. Messy clothes. Don’t get frustrated, just do laundry. Messy or cranky kid. Put them in a warm bath. Really, really messy kid you don’t even want to let in your already messy house. Let them play with the hose and run through the sprinklers.
The worst and messiest lesson turned out to be fun when I turned it into a chance to play in the water.
And that’s how a snow day in San Diego turned into a run through the sprinklers.
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