February 1, 2001 - Thursday
The hour or so between the time we drop Harry's mother off at work and the time Harry goes to daycare is pretty random. I do errands when I have them. We go to the bank or ATM machine often. Lately, we've ridden the escalators to increasing delight. Sometimes, I'm afraid, it's probably pretty boring for Harry, especially on those days when we end up spending more time in the car. But, I still do it for mornings like today.

Interestingly, today started out tenuously because Harry didn't sleep so well last night and was pretty cranky this morning (and all day according to his daycare). I had an errand to do at the city hall in the place we used to live and Harry usually likes exploring new places. But, this morning he was not excited about a new building. So, what might have been an interesting exploration, with civic workers all marveling at how cute Harry is, we did out business quickly and made a hasty exit to minimize the negativity. I put Harry down when we got outside and started toward the car, which was parked on the side of a small hill that we were then walking down. Harry, with his steps accelerated by the hill, was intrigued by this new phenomenon and started to laugh as he walked faster. Going with the moment, we walked right past the car in search of new excitement.

We eventually found our way to an old war monument, a horseshoe shaped wall surrounding a stone patio. A thin layer of snow, now hardened and icy from days of of cold, covered most of the patio and attracted Harry's recently developed curiosity for the stuff. After touching it carefully for a few moments, I kicked some icy snow loose, made a snowball, and gave it to Harry. His smile grew as he held it, perhaps its novel texture and temperature adding to the fascination, but blossomed when he dropped it into a splat.

We didn't spend more than 10 minutes in the cold without gloves, but each time I went to make another snowball, Harry's anticipation would grow more, eventually bubbling over into an arm waving giggle. When I'd return and give him a new snowball, he'd throw the snowball to the stone, each time finding increasing glee in the relative explosion of white. Ultimately, it was a simple 10 minutes of just standing around outside an city building, but for Harry it was an exciting time of discovery in a little enclosed area without distraction. Call it male bonding with snowballs if you want, but really it was me showing Harry something I once learned and him liking it.

Most evenings, Harry's mother carries him to the mail box, but tonight, Harry wanted to walk. And, as soon as she put him down he made a beeline for the snow bank. These pictures follow that.


Comments, opinions?