Attack of the Kleenex

6 a.m.... a sweet little hand reaches out in the dark:
"Here you go, Mama."
"What is it?"
"Boogie."
"AAAGGG"

I couldn't let the winter go by without making another cartoon involving kids and their colds. I did it the last two years, after all.

I don't know why little kids hate having their noses wiped. I guess it's pretty irritating... but surely no more irritating than a giant snot bubble preventing your breathing! Sometimes their own efforts (or lack thereof) don't quite do it. I have to be stealthy about my Kleenex manoeuvres, though, much as one must be when trying to nab a hornet with a rolled-up magazine, only way more scary.

Little Bro gets me back, though. Whether walking hand-in-hand or cuddling on the couch, he seems to think I make a handy Kleenex whenever the need arises. What am I, the Giving Tree?

This is why I can't have nice things.

Mittens

Mittens. Everyone needs them for this Canadian winter, but there's more to think about when getting a kid through the sledding and snowman season with warm hands.

Some thoughts on the subject of mittens:

- After ending the last 4 winters with only two mismatched lefties to show for our mitten collection (they've gone the way of all my bobby pins), I now start the season buying about 12 pairs of mittens and gloves in the hopes that we'll always have something until the snow melts. Let's see how that goes.

-There are two main kinds of mittens: Useful or warm (but not both). First are the two-pack dollar store kind that are pretty much good for Fall or car rides. In the snow, they allow you the manual dexterity to make the most detailed sculptures, at least until your fingers fall off from frostbite:

-Then there are the heavy-duty mittens that are like stuffed oven mitts that keep you warm and allow for lots of Winter fun as long as you don't need to climb or grasp anything:

But the best kind of mitten, at least in my 3-year-old's opinion, is any kind roomy enough to put on over the car you're holding.

- Incidentally, I prefer mittens to gloves, because I haven't once put a glove on a kid that didn't involve this finger-hole square dance while the kid panics that things aren't right:

Finally, did you know that a sock with a thumb-hole cut in it worn under the mittens will prevent Cold Wrist-Gap Syndrome? I learned that one yesterday.

Enjoy your winter, and may your mitten stash last as long as the snow.