Sniffles and a Little Snow

Yesterday we went outside and played on a thin layer of snow on the grass. But only for a while. Temperature had dropped to a record low and somehow our heavy winter coats, boots and hat, weren't enough to keep us warm. So we hopped on our car and headed to the mall where they have a large inside play area for children. Mr. E didn't seem like himself, he was whiny and only after an hour of playing, threw a fit over some lolipops he saw other children had. That meant time to come home. He kept sneezing and rubbing his eyes on our way back.

This morning he woke up with watering, itchy, red eyes, a runny nose and still sneezing. I called his preschool to let them know he wouldn't be coming today. I gave him some Tylenol in case he had a sore throat, too, and he told me after a while that he still had "water in my eyes" ... he thought the tylenol would make his eyes stop watering :) Unfortunately, there's not much I can give to comfort him further since he's not coughing. According the his pediatrician website, antihistamines such as found in benadryl that would stop watering eyes, runny nose, etc, wouldn't help unless those symptoms were from a nasal allergy (not a cold), which is not the case. I didn't know that.

He's been watching cartoons all day wrapped in a blanket on the couch. For lunch we finished off a box of chips ahoys, the reduced fat kind (that means we can eat twice as much cookies right?) and called it good.

Mr. E's favorite toy is now his new snow boots. He's smitten by them and has been wearing them at home. Last night he went to bed and put them right next to him asking if it was okay that they stay there :) He loves just looking at them and jumping with them on. He insists in calling them his "mud boots" for some reason.

On a side note: Snow. It shuts down the entire town. As a county/town, we're unprepared when it comes to snow, because, they say it's rare, so why be prepared? I somewhat disagree especially because sometimes it rains after snowing, and the water freezes over roads, sidewalks, etc. Last winter I counted and it snowed exactly 10 times here, each time with the snow melting soon after. That's often to me. Church is usually canceled and at Duster's office, people will work from home if it's snowing that day because they're afraid - with reason - to drive on Washington's untreated, unplowed, icy roads. Can you imagine canceling sacrament meetings in Utah every time it snowed a little bit? So far this winter, it has snowed once and it might snow again tonight. I don't know, maybe Dustin will be working from home tomorrow :)