So far, so terrible!

Today, Daniel wanted to play "in the background," so I took him there. The background is his apparent contraction of "back yard" and "playground," or, in other words, the play structure in our back yard.

As he swung on one of the swings, he asked me impatiently when it's going to snow.

This is a problematic question, because we look at it from opposite perspectives. Daniel loves snow. I shovel it and drive in it. So fortunately - or most unfortunately, depending - we have had very little snow this winter - probably the most minimal snow of all the winters of my life, and I'm getting on in years... And New England is never a picnic, when it comes to snow. But at this very moment, there is really no snow on the ground in our town, with the possible exception of a little residual this-and-that. February feels more like March, as did January. So of course Daniel is impatient...

Daniel wants a precise forecast as to when he can expect snow, and how much. I told Daniel - truthfully - that I think it will probably snow within the next three to four days [this streak of good luck can't go on forever]. As for volume, Daniel ventured a guess as to the height of the next storm's yield - he showed me with his hand, and I agreed - probably about four to six inches. I also mentioned up front that we have had very little snow this winter, at which point he volunteered:

"So far, so terrible! You know how they always say 'So far, so good'? But in this case, it's so far, so terrible!"

So I asked him why he would want it to snow, and he made his case:

"Because snow is good to play in, and it's good for us. We couldn't live without snow."

I don't think Daniel meant that we can't thrive without snow; I think he probably believes that the ecosystem depends on it.

Since Daniel knows that I have this neurotic tendency to jot down everything he says, he actually made a statement for the record, recapitulating his previous position of "so far so terrible":

"Snow is 'So far, so terrible!' Write that down!"

Snow is So far, so terrible.