Wiggles

Apparently outdoor sports
have moved inside

We have the wiggles. Not The Wiggles (they are banned here). But the “this winter is long and cold and we are sick of being inside” wiggles.

I swear Mike has frost in his blood. He thrives in the cold weather. By mid-June, he’s usually wishing for winter. Luckily, I don’t mind heat … so I’m happy to take the girls to the park when it is 97 degrees and 200 percent humidity, while he sits home in the AC and sweats. He and the baby can bond this summer while the girls and I run around outside! But I digress …

Mike, the man with frost blood, has said out loud that he is sick of winter this year. That means the rest of us are hanging by a thread. Don’t get me wrong. I love winter. But I love winter because of all the cool (ha!) things you can do outside. Skating, sledding, snowmen, snow forts, snowballs, crisp walks in the chilly silence. But this winter has been too blasted cold to do any of those things on a regular basis. There are infrequent warm ups, and believe me, we are outside embracing it. But we need more frequent exposure to fresh air.

Serious duets

To combat the wiggles (and The Wiggles), we’ve turned to music. We have some rousing family dance parties using the toddler tunes station on Mike’s phone (all Wiggles songs are immediately skipped). Even the most wonderful, patient, committed parents can only listen to so many toddler tunes before they wonder what has happened to their lives (we constantly have Raffi’s stupid Willaby Wallaby song in our heads. Listen. I dare you).

So one day, we put the big person music from Mike’s phone on. We learned two things quickly. There are more inappropriate lyrics than we remembered! And … Quinn loves Red Hot Chili Peppers. Like totally rocks out to the Peppers. Fiona seems quite taken with Metallica – which shockingly [to me] had better language than my beloved Peppers. It was fun to give them a taste of our music (while carefully controlling the playlist) and take a small break from Raffi.

New exit strategy

Here’s to a new month. C’mon February. Give us some sunshine and warmer temps so we can go play with all the snow in the yard. And maybe open a window or two for minute and air out the house. The parents, the blondes, and especially the puppy would thank you!