Downtime

The lake is completely frozen; the yard is hard and beneath a blanket of fresh white powder; the house is set in a snow globe. Schools are closed. The roads are slick and slippery with brown sludge tire tracks, sitting quietly after the early mornings commute. Everything's still now. The world is frozen.

Including the internet.

I've been disconnected from time to time over the past week - a blessing and a curse. It's difficult to procrastinate when there's not a world of websites to read at your fingertips. And so, I've been getting some words on the page, but almost grudgingly. Fine, if you won't let me play, I guess I'll get some work done.

The Boss has been keeping me plenty busy. We're in the most adorable phase of Step...Step...Clap. He takes one or two slow, clumsy steps, then latches onto my legs and smiles - at which point the adults in the room all applaud his achievement. The Boss pulls back proudly and stands on his own - clapping.

He then sits down and claps for himself. Then he crawls two or three feet, sits back and claps again. It's very, very sweet.

Meanwhile, I'm pushing everything to the center of the tables - since he's spending more and more time on two-feet now, he's reaching things in places that were once considered safe. I found him this morning on the floor with a mouthful of tissues, surrounded by torn bits of newspaper and an empty coffee mug - clapping.