It’s been in the single digits outside and we’ve been snowed in and going a little crazy, and now I have some things I need to get off my chest from our extended time inside.  What better way to share them than here with you?

1. My child is so cute when she wants to help cook dinner, and cooking with a small child underfoot drives me craaaaaaaazy bonkers, and now there’s no option of one parent taking her outside to play until dinner is cooked (distraction tactics are my jam, yep). And cooking with a toddler makes everything takes so much longer!  She wants to eat the taco seasoning straight out of the jar with her fingers!  I can’t look away for a second, or the potatoes will all have little bites out of them!  No no no no noooooo that cup of water has been measured for the meal, it’s not for drinking or dunking!  Luckily, my husband is Mr. Chill City when it comes to all this, so I’ve relegated myself to being the on-again off-again baker.  Cookies and bread I can handle!  But even then, sometimes I try to sneak the baking in during nap time.

2. Playing outside in the snow is the wooooorst! Yes, little mittens are the cutest and my daughter discovering how to throw snowballs was adorable in this last snow, but the cold! The layers!  The sudden tears and sudden dislike of the sled when we’re halfway down the street!  Did I mention the cold?  I am way more on Team Cocoa than Team Playing in the Snow, and I actively suggest we go inside to warm up when I’m outside with my toddler and I look forward to the day when I can (lovingly) kick her out of the house to go play in the snow like a big kid, all by herself, while I watch from the warm, snuggly indoors.

3. I hide the picture books I don’t like. Eventually if she forgets they exist, I sometimes even straight-up give them away.  Look, a person can only take but so much of Owl Babies before that person (me) loses their mind a little bit.  Sorry Owl Babies.  But you’re owls so the darkness of that closet is probably welcome, right?  Sleep tight, Owl Babies.  Sleep tight foreverrrrrrr.

4. Too much screen time has been happening in my house since the temperature dropped. The Peppa Pig theme song is beginning to haunt my dreams. This is a cry for help.

5. I always rolled my eyes at people who raved about the fun of spontaneous dance parties with kids…but now I love them. It turns out if you give something a chance when you’re desperate for something to do, it can actually be really fun and silly and awesome, even if you have zero rhythm and no dance moves.  Now if only I could convince my daughter that the best dance music is the Pandora summer hits of the 80’s station and not the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack station…  Most of all, this last one is a mental note to myself for the future: don’t knock something until you try it.  So maybe I’ll give cooking with a toddler another try…soon.  Not yet, but soon.