"Warm and dry"

It's winter, which means the weather has been either (1) cold or (2) raining. By "cold" I mean highs in the 40s; by "raining" I mean water falling continuously from the sky from dawn until dusk. When it's dry, it's too cold to play outside; when it's wet ... well, you get the idea. We've had a few opportunities to play outside, but not many.

Because we're Californians, we only have two season's worth of clothes -- warm and cool -- so Isaac and I are basically facing the rain in our autumn clothing. And because we're Californians, we always park in the driveway -- we don't even have a garage. When we have to go somewhere, we rush out to the car with our cotton sweatshirt hoods pulled over our heads, and we try not to step in the massive puddles in our sneakers.

Isaac's car seat is installed in the center of the back seat of our station wagon, so once he climbs up into it, I can kneel on the back seat and shut the door behind me while I buckle him in. But all too often he dawdles while climbing into the car, investigates the toys lying on the floor, or sits down in the back seat and declares he's riding there. Meanwhile, I am standing in the driveway getting rained on. About three weeks ago I got upset and hollered that I was getting wet and cold, and wouldn't he hurry up and get in his seat! In the end I had to pick him up, all 28-odd pounds of him, and bodily insert him into the car seat.

This made a big impression on him, although not a helpful one. Now when it's raining and I'm trying to buckle his seatbelt, he reaches up and grabs my head with both arms. He pulls my head down against his chest, and croons, "I'm keeping Mama warm and dry. Waaaarm and drrrry!"

Meanwhile, I can't see to fasten his seatbelt, and my lower back is exposed to the cold and wet. He's got me in a surprisingly strong headlock, and I can't even get free to close the door behind me.

"Yes, thank you," I say, sounding muffled, as my mouth is pressed against his chest. "I am warm and dry. Very nice. Now let me go so I can fasten your seatbelt, please."

I'm so ungrateful.