Don't Break The Ice...

Although my daughter was born in Massachusetts, this will be her very first winter living in the North.  She has been fascinated with every single meteorological and natural development that demonstrates to the rest of the world that winter is here.  First thing this morning, she looked up the weather forecast on my iPhone and noticed that snow is expected tomorrow.  I could just see the thoughts churning through her brain.  I tried to distract her with other subjects but I could no longer contain her cabin fever.  Fortunately, she is a lover of nature and our apartment complex is nestled on a very large river.  The light bulb went off - I can take her for a walk by the river.

The words didn't even get out of my mouth before she was ready to go on our trek through the path in the woods that led to the river's edge.  She even had her own walking stick.  She was overly enthusiastic about leading the way and since I had never been down there (and I have no sense of direction), I figured why not?  

She did a fine job until she got distracted when we came upon a brook that was beginning to turn to ice. "Mommy, can I break the ice?"

I watched as she stategically gathered all different shapes and sizes of sticks from the forest floor and threw upon the ice trying to break through to free the fallen leaves that were trapped beneath its frozen layer.  "It's just like the game, Don't Break The Ice".

It was sheer joy hearing her laugh more and more with each attempt to break the ice.  Eventually, we decided to continue to the river bank where there would surely be more to see and do.  On the way there, we talked about how to make sure we stay safe around frozen water bodies during the winter.  Of course, there was a lot more questions than anticipated (as always) but she got the point.

We soon arrived at the river.  Again, she was absolutely fascinated by the ice formation at the river bank. The ice was formed as if it had been frozen in time the moment the waves decided to lap the shore.  

She grabbed a piece of the ice and inspected it extensively.  You would think she had never seen ice before.    She traced her fingers over the curves, looked through it, and then I heard a crashing sound.  "Mommy, it's like glass".  And it sounds like glass too baby.  "Can I break more?"  Why not?  So she got a few more pieces and broke them too.  

It was getting a bit cold so we decided to return home but she had to bring a piece of ice to show her daddy.  She rushed me the whole way to make sure that her "pet" ice did not melt before we got home.  And tomorrow, we expect snow.  I can hardly wait.

One Love, Se'Lah