Winter Break

Growing up in Southern California, I don't remember ever having Winter Break. Of course, I don't really remember ever having winter. Yes, I remember what I thought was winter. I remember being cold and putting on a nice warm jacket and cranking up the heater in the car, but that is kind of joke to me now. After nine years in Upstate New York, I have a different definition of winter. Maybe that's why we have Winter Break here in addition to Spring Break. The powers that be feel sorry for anyone who has to endure nearly six months of cold.

So Winter Break started today. Great, huh? Not quite. Josh usually attends two and half hours of preschool daily followed by an hour long appointment at home with a special education teacher after lunch. With his teachers taking a well-deserved break this week, the sole person responsible for his "edutainment" is me. And Day One of Break has started out with a bang.

After Jane went down for her morning nap and while I was face booking, Josh fell off the TV in the office. After I got his lip to stop bleeding, I decided to give him some quiet time in front of a Disney movie. I went to take a shower making sure to try and "Josh-proof" the house before I went. I unplugged the toaster and microwave ovens since he likes to climb up on a chair and turn these appliances off and on. The microwave starts to give off a slightly singed smell that makes me nervous. In my attempts to avoid fire and burn hazards, I neglected to prevent water damage. I didn't lock the ice and water dispenser on the fridge. Josh likes to push the button and let the water run all over the kitchen floor. Luckily everything was dry when I came downstairs. But I was greeted by a fairly regular slamming sound. I hurried to the family room to find this sight.

 

Josh had been laboring to empty the toy box, one toy at a time. The slamming was caused by him forcefully shutting the toy box lid after each toy. Now, if this pile of toys looks impressive, he still wasn't done. He continued until he had removed every single toy from the toy box, leaving the lid open so I could admire his handiwork. At least he didn't slam it again. He then pushed this big pile of toys onto the floor. I didn't take another picture at this point because the thought of cleaning up the mess put a damper on the fun. Oh well, at least it will give us something to do this afternoon. And we're going to the NY State Museum later this week so maybe with a few more activities we just might survive Winter Break.