Fred The Snowman

A week and a half ago, Ian made his first snowman. To be honest, I was very impressed at how readily he managed to ball up the three spheric components of the classic American snowman, without thinking twice about it; one of my biggest frustrations as a small child was that I couldn't roll snow into sizeable balls for snowmen no matter how hard I tried.

He got a carrot-nose from the kitchen, two big rocks for eyes, and a series of miniature rocks from the landscaping for a toothy smile. We then put my light blue knit hat on him, and he became Fred.

It was moving how enthusiastic both boys were about Fred - especially Ian. At one point, he reflected, "Me and Daddy both made the snowman together - team work."

Two or three times, Ian and Daniel sang "Happy Birthday" to Fred, to celebrate his emergence as a being on that day.

Ian wanted all kinds of pictures taken of Fred, and at one point he offered, "We can actually make a picture of me and the snowman with the hat and of me and the snoman with the and and Mommy!"

At one point, as Daniel was ready to go intot he house, I asked him why he was leaving, and he explained:

"Well, I'm done having fun. I said goodbye to Fred."

Eventually, Ian started making snow angels and also a "ground man" - a similarly two-dimensional figure in the snow, only one reflecting a human outline, rather than "angels' wings."

Finally, Ian volunteered: "This has been a fun winter. Let'd go back inside. I'm freezing."

I believe the "fun winter" might have begun and ended on February 20. But seeing the boys get so enthusiastic about snowcraft really did make it a fun winter. For days afterwards, Ian was running outside to check on the status and overall well-being of Fred.