Monday, March 8, 2010

Mittens

For most of the winter mittens have been an issue at my house.  Elli was generally against wearing mittens and would insist that her hands would be fine without.  Since we can't actually keep mittens on her if she simply refuses to cooperate we ended up going outside without mittens on a number of occasions with fairly poor results.

Sometimes Elli would put her hands in her pockets.  Sometimes she would ride on my shoulders and just shove her hands into the back of my neck.  Sometimes she just let her hands sit wherever.  The end result in every case was her breaking down into tears because her hands were so cold.  Of course we brought mittens with us, but then we were trying to put somewhat cold mittens on freezing little girl hands and they weren't actually helping very quickly.  This lead to much screaming, thrashing and cursing.  I try not to curse too much in front of her, but when she had an on the floor shrieking, writhing tantrum just 10 minutes ago refusing to put on mittens and now is having a fit because her hands are cold.... I do sometimes use that opportunity to teach her new words and phrases she might otherwise have to wait a few years to learn.



Today was a wonderfully warm day.  It started out about 6 C when we left the house this morning and got up to 15 C by the end of the day.  I finally got out my leather jacket instead of my big winter parka and went walking in the sun for a bit and then came home and threw open the balcony doors for hours.  That first day of spring is amazing.  Despite the fact that I will consider 15 C cool later on the in the summer today felt like I was basking in front of a fire.  That newfound freedom from dressing up rituals and separating myself from my environment is always a wondrous thing.

I went to daycare to pick up Elli at the end of the day.  People were walking around in just shirtsleeves with no jacket at all and there was a palpable (I used the word palpable!  Have you *ever* used that in conversation?) sense of optimism and happiness around the people I saw on the street.  I met Elli's teacher at the gate and she told me that Elli had some issues with clothes today.  She explained that today Elli refused to go outside *without* full winter gear on and I walked onto the playground to see my daughter dressed in a winter coat, boots, and the mittens and touque that she had absolutely refused to be without.  In fact she was so insistent on wearing the touque that right now she is asleep in her bed with that same hat still on her head.

So should I be frustrated that I fought all winter with her about mittens and now I have to have a different fight with her about mittens?  Perhaps I should be grateful that the lessons have finally sunk in and Elli has decided to wear mittens and winter hat all day, every day.  Argh.

2 comments:

  1. I think we just have a tiny non-conformist on our hands...

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  2. Don't worry! I used to be a mitten refuser too ... back in my day. Although, I would have to say that generally I am a non conformist (tell me to do something and I am likely to do the opposite just to prove I can!) ... so Wendy might be on to something there!

    As an aside ... because I palpate multiple times a day for professional reasons the word palpable is one I use a lot! Just thought that might interest you!
    Hope you guys are well!
    Pais

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