winter
2016 Storm Chasers
Maddie Gearing Up for a Cold Winter
Even without the ear accessories, it’s becoming more and more obvious that Maddie is part polar bear. Just like last year, the cold weather has come rolling in and Maddie still hasn’t noticed.
This is a girl that doesn’t like the warm temps at all – but once it creeps under fifty degrees, she is in her element. Today we were outside and the wind chill had to be in the mid-thirties. I kept wrapping Maddie up in her warm blanket and she kept snatching it off and waving it over her head.
Despite Maddie’s cold weather antics, we have made progress in one critical area. Maddie now realizes that if she wants to go outside, shoes have become a non-negotiable part of her life.
Now that it’s chilly, Maddie signals that she is ready to go outside by hand-delivering her bear jacket and then bringing out a pair of shoes. This is one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history of clothing. We really believed that Maddie would be refusing to wear her shoes well into her teens.
But this is no time to celebrate – The next Herculean task on our agenda is to get Maddie into gloves or mittens before the temps dip into the twenties.
Baby Deploys Weather Shield to Combat Bitter Cold
With the wind chill hovering around 10 degrees, Maddie had to break out the heavy artillery for this morning’s road trip. Actually, her father had her outside for a grand total of 50 seconds – but it was cold out there.
Maddie’s new counter-weather outfit is like a bullet proof, oxygen tent, pressure suit sleeping bag that goes around the baby for all of her trips to the Arctic.
Step One began this morning when we took Maddie’s mom to work and then made our way to the store. Luckily, the car stays parked in a garage where the average temperature is about 75 degrees, so the first part of our frigid journey was anti-climatic. I parked out front, while Maddie was getting all bundled up in her insulated body length weather shield. Getting Maddie from the front door into the car took less than 8 seconds. This part of the journey actually failed to even get Maddie’s attention, because the car was already nice and toasty.
The next stop would present more of a challenge – I would have to run Maddie from the parking lot into the store. However, when I got to the back seat, the little girl was fast asleep. The ten second jog into the store didn’t even wake her up!
However, once we got into the store, I had to peel this massive snow suit off of the baby before she got too hot. However, when it was time to leave – Maddie was wide awake and all fired up to test out her new winter gear.
Just as we ventured outside, a 25 mph wind gust buffeted the shopping cart. This fierce frozen blast must have made its way past the baby’s weather defenses because her eyes snapped wide open as soon she felt it. The baby wasn’t upset, but she was giving me a scathing look that seemed to say, “Excuse me, what in the world was that?”
However, even that shock was all-too short-lived. Once I had Maddie settled into her car sear, she passed out asleep again before I was even finished loading the trunk.
As for the snow suit – It is truly a formidable outfit and at some point we may actually take a walk with it – but today would not be that day!
Stay Home PaPa 