32 - woohoo!

I've been particularly graced the past couple of weeks and haven't even thought to put it all together. It's seemed easier to take care of Paul this week and last, and I've lost my cool much less often, almost not at all! Two major exceptions were a naptime last weekend (thank God Dylan was there to help, phew) and this Wednesday morning when still-pj-clad Paul just. wanted. to be. with Papa ... who was shoveling the driveway at 7am in -6ºF. Anyway, those episodes aside, I've felt more patient and seen a few fruits of that regarding discipline and a tantrum or two. I've remembered that I'm not alone in this and that I couldn't manage this all on my own, and I've felt quite at peace with a crazy (not so crazy, but busy) toddler and a new one on the way. Huge something to be thankful for!

We've gotten snow since the last report! Yes! We woke up to it still falling on Sunday morning, so there we are after Mass --->

The snow - as welcome as it is (I [with Colleen's help, too] have literally prayed for snow so my family would have a white Christmas and finally see MN with a little powder; their previous visits have fallen short!) - also poses a few challenges; ex: shopping. I would like Paul to walk himself from the car to the store so that all 3 of us don't go down if I slip on some ice (excellently minimized thus far), but then he needs his snow boots ... which turn out to be a huge, cumbersome hassle to get in and out of the car seat and grocery baskets. So I've chosen to both limit errands to 2 and to carry him instead so that he can have normal shoes...

<--- unless it's really, really, ridiculously cold out like at the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train on Monday in -8º, feels like -22º. We were out for a laughably short period of time considering the 10min it takes to get dressed for that kind of cold in the first place. Then we came home to hot cider and a fireplace. Sigh.

I've been getting to bed way too late this week, sometimes staying up with Dylan while he studies; idiotic, really. Even more reason to be grateful for that extra patience, right? Time to wizen up and get to bed by 10, for sure. After Paul was asleep last night, though, we set up the tree. It took a little longer than expected, so we just strung the lights on it to turn them on in the morning for St. Lucy's Day. Paul came down this morning and gasped with the widest smile - it was awesome and surprisingly gratifying. Then this morning after Momtime, he and I hung the ornaments, and he spent the rest of his time before lunch going through books finding Christmas trees to point to and make sure I understood it's the same thing we have right here - right here!