It's Always Windy In Iowa
No, really. Especially in the Spring. I feel like, if everyone in Iowa had a turbine for their house, the entire state could be energy independent. They call Chicago The Windy City, but we have nothing to stop the winds blowing down from Canada or up from the Gulf but the occasional confused tree.
*insert baffled tree picture here*
This makes outdoor play, even on beautiful 79° F days like today, somewhat problematic when your toddler views wind as an irritant at best, and a cause for full-blown anger at worst.
"Hey kiddo, you want to go out and play trucks in the backyard?"
*gust of wind thrums the double-glazed windows and hails tree buds and loose grass with a rattle against the glass*
"Nope, I'm still playing trains Mommy. Come play trains! You need to talk to Thomas!"
*grumble*
Easter is this weekend. We're doing an egg hunt at my folks' farm, with my brother and his family. My nephew is 7 and my sister-in-law is concerned that the necessary restrictions to make an egg hunt fun for both a 7 and a 2.5 year old would be a letdown for him. We have come up with what may be the brilliant solution of hiding nephew's eggs in the front yard and son's in the back. We don't get the fun of a joint egg hunt that way, but at least we wouldn't have to constantly tell one or the other of them to put an egg back so its rightful owner can find it.
Also, this prevents KidK from excitedly opening an egg full of Starburst and cramming a week's worth of Red 40 in his mouth when nobody's looking. Ughhh...we have had full threenager sullenness for the past few days, goodness knows we don't need the Red 40 Beast added to pre-threenagerhood attitude!
Fun Fact: I am still on the fence on Red 40. Not whether I think it's harmless -- why the heck do we need to eat dye in everything? -- but whether I'm convinced that it has negative behavioral effects on my son. Since it's usually fairly easy to avoid it, I figure there's no harm in continuing to avoid it, but my family does get a little side-eye at me whenever I kention my desire to keep KidK away from most food dyes. Oh well. I was always the weirdo anyway, so this can be another "let's just humor the poor deluded hippie" moment.