Spring has magically arrived much earlier this year than the previous two springs that we have been residents of Minnesota. We have gone the entire month of March WITHOUT a lick of snow. It is the first time in the history of record keeping that NO white stuff has fallen during the third month of the year. It was chilly (ie. required hat/heavy jacket) and windy most of its 31 days however we got blasts of 2 day stints where the temperature ventured way above normal and we are expecting almost summer like days next week to end the month.
All of that said, we find ourselves cleaning up the yard six weeks ahead of schedule (almost 8 weeks compared to last year) and watching green shoots pop up in the warm sun as the ground has completely thawed! We hesitate to plant a darn thing as we fear mother nature saying "HA, watch this" and sending some arctic air and heavy wet snow our way as she hasn't been very happy with us as a population in general showing her wrath with earthquakes and freak storms.
Anyway, Cole has been a huge helper as we have spent the past two weekends working outdoors. He has his set of gardening tools and a pair of gloves and loves to get dirty of course! My planters and pots don't fare well even when they are stored in the shed as the temperature gets soooo darn cold here during the winter that it causes the paint and terra cotta to crack. I lost quite a few this year since we had extended bouts of subzero weather in January and February.
Outdoor decor and spring inventory has been on display in the stores since after Valentine's Day which always perplexes me but this year it seems to have been a wise move! Cole and I were in SuperTarget and I wandered down the aisle in the Smith & Hawken section since the sign at the end said "SALE"...I love Smith & Hawkin but they typically are out of my price range. I was hoping to find some planters to replace my cracked ones but instead saw a cool outdoor thermometer that would look great in our firepit/patio area.
To Cole, the thermometer looked like a clock. He is learning about telling time at Montessori and we have gotten a few books at the library about clocks/telling time that we read before bedtime (along with whatever books about trucks/cars/vehicles/anything with wheels we can find). I explained to him that clocks have numbers 1-12 and show us what time it is. A thermometer has bigger numbers and tells us how hot/cold it is. He looked slightly confused, so I repeated myself and said that we would hang the thermometer outside near the deck.
Cole looks at me, then points at the thermometer in the cart and says matter of factly "that isn't like the one for my butt". I realized his puzzled face was because a thermometer to him was the one I pulled out of the drawer when I told him "you feel hot buddy, I'm going to take your temperature with the thermometer" I smiled but didn't laugh because to him he was making the connection that a thermometer had multiple meanings (and uses). At three years old , he continues to amaze me with his ability to connect the proverbial dots and impress me with his understanding of the way the world works.
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