Missing the winter wonderland

It's been one of those winters here in Toronto. What I don't miss is the so-cold-my-car-won't-start cold, trudging through the snow every day to walk Austin to school, driving in not-so-ideal conditions and taking 15 minutes every morning to outfit the kids in snowsuits etc., before walking out the door.

Instead it's been a winter of mostly dry roads, winter coats and hats but very little need for snowpants, and temperatures above or at 0C most days.

Since winter is my least favourite season -- it sounds perfect. Yet, as a stay-at-home mom, I can tell you it sucks.

Because there is very little for the kids to do. When it's not raining or the tiny little bit of snow that fell within the last day of two is melting and turning the grass to slush and mud, it's too cold to play outside. It might be a warm winter, but it's not exactly bike riding and park playing weather. And so it's too cold to play, but too warm for snow (which would at least give the kids something to play in). The ground has been alternating between green and frozen or extremely muddy. Either way it means there's nothing for the kids to do outside.

And so they're getting bored and they're getting stir crazy as I try to fill afternoon after afternoon with things to do that don't involve killing each other.

And Austin, who loves winter, has even declared that this sucks. He wants to go skating (which we have on occasion, but even some days it's been too warm and the rinks are closed), and tobagganing (which we've done twice but both times there was more grass than snow) but more than anything, he just wants to play in the snow.

And for most of January I kept telling him wait, it'll come. He was so excited for last week's expected snowstorm -- and all we ended up getting was more rain mixed with a tiny bit of wet, slushy snow. And within two days, whatever dusting of snow we had was gone. And now, he just looks at me sadly and asks "how many more weeks of winter do we have left?". We've all resigned ourselves to the fact that this is it.

I know, us Canadians can never stop complaining about the weather. Last winter I cursed the fact that winter went on forever -- that walking to school was challenging by mid-February because the field I had to cross was buried in snow. This winter I'm complaining because it's not.