Baby, It's Cold Outside

Poor Nola. She's just beginning to perceive the world in new ways. She loves to look at the sunlight as it beams into our apartment, and to make shadows with her hands. She's recently learned to imitate mommy and daddy, and especially likes clapping. She should be going out into the world everyday, exploring and making new friends.

Instead, she and mommy are house-bound with an indifferent cat. When it's really cold like this, a thick sheet of ice forms on the back stairs, making them dangerous for a mom carrying a kid. And, even if we went down the front stairs and around the back to where our stroller is stored, the snow pack in the alley makes it impassable. So, if it's warm enough for mommy, we take a short walk carrying Nola. If it's below fifteen degrees or so, mommy throws in the towel. We stay inside all day.

For company, we watch the daytime version of "Deal or No Deal." Howie cheers the contestants on even as they make bad choices and open more cases than they should. Mommy lectures Nola on the importance of calculating risk and maximizing opportunity. Mommy is not much of a risk-taker, herself.

Nola claps. Luckily, just about everything makes Nola happy.