spring fever

today the temperature reached the 70's. 74 on one restaurant sign, 71 on another. pooka was beside herself when i got home. mommy, can i play outside??????

sure.

she put last year's sandals on and some shorts and went out to play with her basketball hoop. then she insisted that i join her. since i had foolishly ignored her advice this morning about wearing cooler clothes, i had to change out of my turtleneck (hello! it was 81 degrees at work!). while outside, she wanted to go for a bike ride, play sidewalk chalk, water the plants, and every other warm weather thing. i let her do a few things while i went inside to cook dinner.

i drew the line, though, when she asked to get the pool set up. "then how about the sprinkler?" no. "well, what if you just hose me down?" still no. i told her, "no outside water playing until at least april."

"why?"

"because it's march in michigan, which means that it very well could snow tomorrow. it feels warm now because yesterday you were freezing, but once you get wet and the wind kicks up, you'll be a popsicle."