Back in My Day, We Wore Coats

Mila and I are just going to fight about the weather every day. I've resigned myself to my fate and IT IS FINE. Or something.

There is still this little matter of hating when the sun shines in her eyes. Miss Mila can scream at the sun for existing like nobody before her has screamed at the sun. I finally found a pair of sunglasses she will wear, so I'm hoping there will be less yelling along our morning drive to daycare.

Spoiler alert: There won't be. After one day of having access to them, I think I can safely say she's still going to yell, "THE SUN WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" even as she puts the sunglasses on her face. Whatever.

For what it's worth, I've tried very hard to explain that the sun is our friend. I even explained that it helps us get warm when it's cold outside, but Mila isn't interested in being aligned with one enemy for the sake of fighting another. The only thing that makes her madder than the sun in her eyes is cold weather. She yells at me daily if she deems it too chilly for her little behind. AS IF I CAN CONTROL THE COLD. The sun and the cold are both terrible and evil and that's all there is to it.

A big part of Mila's disdain for cold weather is that she also really doesn't like wearing pants or a coat. She is a free spirit who is best served by wearing a free-flowing sundress. I've actually been letting her do that, but with leggings underneath and a sweater over top. And, well, when it's negative degrees outside, we just have to wear a coat.

I've said the words, "We wear coats in January in Pittsburgh" more times than I can count. I finally flipped to February as I chanted my mantra, but then the weather went and flipped upside-down. It was something like 60 degrees outside today, which is WEIRD for early February. I couldn't find it in my heart to force the jacket issue since one really wasn't necessary. Consistency is important, but logic reigns supreme.

Mila walked outside after school, muttering and marveling about how I had let her escape without a coat. She was telling me about how they had played outside. She rode the pink bike, but a friend crashed the yellow bike, and it was all sorts of fun because nobody was hurt. Oh, and it was too muddy in the grass, but it was fine with the bikes and it was nice out and there was a bird and ... and ... and.

She said a lot of words.

She didn't finish until she found her point. She reached deep inside to find her point, and then she yelled it.

"And, mom, PEOPLE DON'T WEAR COATS IN FEBRUARY IN PITTSBURGH. I told you so!"

Stupid global warming is making a liar out of me.