First Snow of the Year

Last night I picked up my son from day care. He and his moms only live down the block so we just walk home together.

Picking your kid up from day care is the best experience; they are so excited to see you. He ran up, hugged me and said, “Hi Daddy. We go to Corey’s house and play outside.”

I told him that we had to get our jackets on first and walk home. He put on a light-weight warm up jacket and grabbed a pair of yellow snow boots. “OK, we go,” he says. I shook my head. “Sweetie, I’m sure your moms had you in a warmer coat. Where is it?”

With that I remember a new coat had been purchased and I hadn’t seen it yet. I frantically looked through each coat, trying to figure where his moms had put his name. Thinking smarter, I told him we’d play and game. “You yell ‘Yes' when daddy points to your coat.”

I point to a red one and he shouts, “Yes.” I grab and thought about how easy that had been. I reached over and asked, “How about this one?”

“Yes,” he said. CRAP, I thought. I walked over to the teachers with a handful of coats and said, “Corey has a new coat and I don’t know what it looks like. HELP!” They laughed hysterically and picked out a yellow & blue jacket, which I stuck on the kid and headed out the door.

As we walked home, Corey pointed out each snow pile. “I play with mommy in the snow today.” I nodded, “Yep mommies like snow. Daddies like the Caribbean.”

We walked toward the house and he continued to point out birds, stop signs and snow piles. Every five feet, he’d pick up a bit of snow, throw it and giggle. His little cheeks get rosy and his eyes just glowed of excitement. These are the moments every parent lives for.

“Can we play in the snow daddy?” he asks.

“Umm, we can’t little man. Daddy is wearing his suede shoes.”

I’m guessing Father of the Year is not going to be knocking on my door anytime soon.