The Cold, Manners and Moomies

Yes that's right. We are below zero here in Connecticut. This is what I saw on my phone when I went to check the weather before leaving for the gym this morning. -5 and feels like -16. It's inhumane. But don't worry. There's a high of 13 today. It's in my genes to complain about the cold--it's another wonderful trait that I've acquired from Dad--so really, I can't help it. I think Jim might be aware of the fact that I'm not a fan of the cold and that I'd prefer to live somewhere where it's sunny and warm all year...like Austin. It's usually on a day like today when it's so cold that my groceries were freezing while they were sitting in the car, that Edward will send me a picture of the weather in Austin. And it tends to be nothing shy of 70 degrees and sunny, even in January. I am just not cut out for winter.

But, enough about the weather. As Dad says, I'm taking the cold with a, "smile on my face and a song in my heart." Whenever we go outside, Lilly says, "I cold, Mummy" and lets me know that she wants to put on her hat and mittens. She would also like mittens for Daisy. It's hard enough putting mittens on a toddler without having to worry about putting them on a doll so that's where I drew the line. Daisy can have a hat but she'll just have to warm up in the car. Lilly didn't seem too broken up over the lack of mittens for Daisy so I'm glad we came to an understanding.

This is Lilly sprinting away from me as I'm trying to take a picture of her in a little scarf. She looked so cute and wanted to wear a scarf like I was wearing. This was not this morning--she would have frozen to death.

Manners are difficult to teach a toddler. Lilly has the, "yes peese" down so we've been working on saying thank you. For awhile, she was getting it and when I'd give her something, I'd say, "what do you say?" and she came back with "tank too". But now when I ask her what she should say, she's replies as every Singaporean does, by saying, "Wel-caaaam". While Mum and Dad were living over in Singapore, we even took to saying "Wel-caaaam" instead of "you're welcome." But Lilly never experienced that. She just came up with it on her own. It's so cute; she's trying to be polite without knowing exactly what word to use. This was one of our conversations the other day:

Me: Lilly, would you like some cheese?

Lilly: Ummmm....no, welcaam.

So you can imagine some of the laughs we have. At least we know what she's trying to say.

Lilly has also developed a love of "moomies" (or movies), courtesy of Sundays with Dad. She runs over to the couch and says, "moomie, dad, moomie." She'll only sit and watch a movie for about 20 minutes but it's cute to see Lilly and Jim snuggled up on the couch...Lilly with her milk and Jim with a beer...laughing at Finding Nemo or The Emperor's New Groove. The other day when I was heading out to tutor, a playoff game was starting and Jim was trying to get Lilly to sit on the couch with him and watch it. The last words I heard as I walked out the door were, "It's just like a moomie, Lil, except with touchdowns." I don't think he was able to convince her.

If the weather doesn't warm up soon, we will be watching lots of "moomies."

Here's a picture from this morning. Lil got this fleece today and won't take it off. She's currently asleep wearing it--not that I blame her. Anyway, she's wearing her new fleece and reading the Economist. Just another Monday morning.