The "pretend Sanju"

Yesterday we went skiing with Melina at Teacup Lake, and while we were in the warming cabin we met up with Melina's preschool friend Sanju. Melina was in a pretty bad mood, but I was surprised that she wasn't more friendly to Sanju and that they didn't seem to want to play with each other. In fact, they both seemed really shy and surprised to see each other out of context.

Later, in the car, Melina said that that was the pretend Sanju. Because obviously the real Sanju lives at the preschool and never goes anywhere else! This would explain the reticence. It's funny how preschoolers find ways to explain new situations. I wonder what will happen when Sanju tells Melina she went skiing yesterday!

Speaking of skiing, yesterday was one of our most difficult ski outings with Melina. She was grumpy, and it was unusually cold - around 19 or 20 degrees. We bought handwarmers and toe warmers for her, but the handwarmers were "uncomftible" so she kept trying to take off her mittens. No matter how many times we explained that her hands would get cold if she took off her mittens, off they came. Finally she resorted to holding the handwarmers and keeping her hands inside her sleeves.

Toddler mittens are a big pain in the neck. To be insulated enough, they must be so bulky that the kid can't grip anything well, including ski poles. Melina always has to have her ski poles, but she can't hold them with mittens on, so there's no way we can win. And then when she is in a good mood and her hands are warm, she entertains herself by trying to clear all the snow off the trail (good luck) or stopping every 10 seconds to clean the snow off the top of her skis. This is especially fun - and exasperating - when it's snowing hard.

Meanwhile, we are continually passed by five- and six-year-olds who are already adept at skiing. So apparently it does pay off, but this has to be the hardest year!

Chicken update

The chickens are doing well (unlike Sue's poor chickens, who all got eaten one night by a raccoon). During the recent cold snap I started lighting up their coop with a heat lamp, and perhaps as a result we started getting eggs again. It's nice not to have to buy them. The chicken coop upgrade is still incomplete; I'm waiting for warmer weather to finish putting the siding on, but the chickens already seem to appreciate the extra space.

Mouse in the chicken feed

The other day when I opened the chicken feed bin I was startled by something brown flinging itself into the air. I shrieked (to my embarrassment) and slammed the door back down. Then I slowly lifted the lid. It was the cutest little brown-eyed field mouse, and it was desperate to get out of the land of plenty and back on the ground. It must have been very well fed. I showed it to Melina, who said "It's so cuuuuuuute!" Jeff happened to be wearing work gloves, so he came over, admired it, scooped it out, and sent it on its way. I can't imagine how it got in the bin in the first place - it would have to jump pretty high, but having owned mice in the past I can attest to their high-jumping abilities.

By the way, this is not the mouse, but it looks a lot like it.

Swim classes

Melina is still taking swim classes. She's actually getting to where she can swim about 10 feet under water, but she can't raise her head up to breathe unless she's standing on something, which is a problem. Still, it's impressive to see her swimming along under water like a little penguin.

The woman in the TV

The other day I thought it would be fun to see if Melina would do an exercise video with me. I put in the Bollywood Workout, which has a lot of fun jumping and spinning, but I noticed that she kept hiding behind me. So I switched over to a yoga video, and then a Kundalini dance workout, but Melina was acting strange and shy the entire time. Finally I asked, "Do you think those people are watching you?" She nodded. "So you think there are people inside the TV?" She nodded again. I tried to assure her that there weren't people inside the TV watching her, but she insisted there were. I tried to explain that real people couldn't fit inside the TV, but it didn't matter. As of today, she still believes there are women dancing inside the TV. I asked her later where they went when the TV was off, and she said they went to sleep. It's really hard to explain how a TV works to a three-year-old.