Frozen tundra and Jane Eyre.
I just packaged up the children in warm clothes and mittens. It's bitter cold outside. Frozen tundra. The ground is hard, and the snowman that Ian made a week ago is still standing in front of the house. I sent Jonah to the neighbor's to hitch a ride to school.
Ian was ticked off about having to wear corderoys and a long sleeve shirt to school today. He prefers light sweats and a summer t-shirt, because regular clothes irritate his skin too much. He made his body limp as I dressed him. He's a master of passive resistance. But I won and he got on the school bus this morning wearing an appropriate outfit.
It was much too cold to venture to far from home this weekend. We went ice-skating at a local rink and put together an erector set from Christmas. I made an easy Boeuf Bourguignon for my folks. Everybody did a lot of reading.
I've picked up Jane Eyre for its biannual reading. Since high school, I have reread Jane Eyre every couple of years. Grounded with the cold and the craziness of December over, I enjoyed the freedom to snuggle up on the sofa and gorge on the novel, gobbling it up a 100 pages at a time.
December was a tough month for us for many reasons. Ian and Steve have had a terrible cough for the past few weeks. After some googling last night, Steve ended up on a wikipedia page for whooping cough. Maybe.
The triviality of chores derailed some long term goals, but normal life resumed today. I'm determined to get back on track. But first, some blogging.
Apt. 11d 
You’ve probably tried this already, but my clothing-sensitive son handles less-than-ideal clothes better now that we found a type of long underwear he likes against his skin. The layers on top bother him less that way. (Now the trick is to convince him that he doesn’t have to wear his Metallic t-shirt EVERY day.)
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E’s tactile sensitivities are the opposite of Ian’s. I can’t get E out of long-sleeved shirts and pants in the summer.
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I used to be the same way about Jane Austen, but my old love for Austen and the Brontes was killed as soon as I picked up Adam Bede and Daniel Deronda.
Now I can’t start reading any of them without thinking that they’re “like George Eliot, except not as good.”
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he doesn’t have to wear his Metallic t-shirt EVERY day
Maybe he does. We have a radio station that advertises “Mandatory Metallica.” I’m not a fan, but if you have to…
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Hmm. My daughter used to be fussy that way (though not as bad) about the feel of clothes on her skin, but she outgrew it. Now her only concern is that her clothes be as skanky as possible.
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