Oodles of Tenacity & Independence

I had every intention of waking the family up early this morning for a "before the work day" hike.  It is supposed to be freezing cold on Wednesday and snowy on Thursday, so today was the day.  When the alarm went off at 5:30 am, I bounced out of bed and was halfway to the boys' room when I thought, "Hmmm....I better just check the weather."  Google: "Good morning.  It feels like -20 C outside."  Me: "Nope."  I promptly did an about-face and climbed right back into bed.

Even though our morning hike was foiled, Seamus, Alistair and I did get out for a snowshoeing excursion once things had warmed up a bit in the afternoon.  Our lovely across the street neighbours let us tromp through their backyard forest for a change of scenery and it was beautiful.  

My only mistake was leaving Ali's backpack carrier at home.  I thought: "He's always stuck in that pack, I bet he'd like to walk."  Did he ever!  Alistair is as stubborn as Charlie and once he experienced freedom, there was no reigning him in.  His heart's desire was to stray from the path even though his tiny little legs could not handle the deep snow and he doesn't have the balance yet to walk any distance in his snowshoes. Ali: "Mama FOLLOW!"  Me: "Mama help?" as I gently tried to redirect him to the packed down path.  Ali: "NO!"  Me:  "Follow brother?"  Ali: "NO!"  And off he went his own way.

Alistair refused to sit in the sled.  He did not even want to stop when his boot fell off (which it did at least a dozen times).  His mitts also fell off too many times to count but at least they are attached by a string.  Why in the world someone does not make a toddler snowsuit with permanently attached mitts and even boots is beyond me.  This would be perfection.

I sure hope Alistair enjoyed his freedom march today because he will 100 percent be riding in the backpack for our next snowshoeing excursion.  My (ample) patience is no match for his oodles of tenacity and independence.  Lord help me.