Snow Day!

During Winter Break, we got a decent amount of snow in our area.  Miss J asked if we could got sledding at a hill nearby.  Mr. A and I tossed sleds into the back of the truck as Miss J and M bundled up.  Sledding (well, not so much the sledding part, but climbing back up the hill) is a physically demanding task which would be a challenge for M.  I let Miss J know that our time on the hill would probably be brief.  My hope for M was three runs down the hill.  I figured that was about the amount he'd be able to handle, then he and I would head back to the truck to warm up while Mr.A and Miss J continued sledding.  I was so certain it would be a quick trip that I attempted to temper her likely disappointment with promises of hot chocolate with extra marshmallow when we returned.

We arrived at the hill and I was happy to see that M was excited to go sledding.   He'd been once before, but it proved to be too difficult and tiring a task for him.  Exhausted, he fell into the snow and refused to stand back up.  Our time on the hill that day was under five minutes.  

As M and I walked through the ice and snow, Miss J was already at the top of the hill and on her sled. Eager to follow his sister, M quickened his pace to meet her at the top of the hill.  I positioned the sled and helped him in.  Together we zipped down the hill.  As we slowed in the fresh and untouched snow at the bottom, M announced, "Again!" and made his way back up the hill.

M rode down the hill with Mr. A and with Miss J and again with me. He rode by himself and held on to the sled's rope and pulled it back up the hill all by himself.

One of the times I was riding with him and he called to me, "Don't hit the tree, Mama!"  He gave a loud belly laugh we we did.  Another time he told me, "I like this!  I like the snow!"

Needless to say, M surpassed my hopeful goal of three runs down the hill.  I stopped counting but I am guessing he made at least a dozen runs before telling me he was too tired to go again.

He amazed me.  My boy, sledding down a hill and climbing back up again and again and again.  And for a second, it almost made me forget that once upon a time  one of the 'top docs' cautioned us that M may never walk or talk.