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January 7, 2002
Karen was set to leave work early last Monday (New Year's Eve), but ended up coming home a little earlier than she'd planned. She had received a call from the Acura dealership telling her that her new car had arrived several weeks sooner than we'd anticipated and that she could pick it up around 5:00 pm. Naturally, she was very excited, so the three of us loaded up and headed for the dealership to complete the deal. It was the beginning of one long evening for us.
If there was any way we could have avoided taking Nathan with us to the "car store," we would have, but on short notice (and on New Year's Eve, for crying out loud), there was nothing we could do. Obviously, there is very little with which to keep a 3-year-old entertained inside a car dealership, so our methods of Creative Distraction had to become as creative as they've ever been. At one point, I noticed that a man in one of the offices had a Thrashers jersey and authentic hockey stick, which I pointed out to Nathan. He wanted to run in and get an up-close look, but the man was on the phone and I didn't want to intrude. But a few minutes later, when he had finished his call, the man (who was the general manager of the dealership, as it turns out) came out of his office and gave Nathan the stick! He was simply delighted.
Well, to make a long story slightly less long, we did eventually sign all of the paperwork and get the car. At that point, the three of us split up into two groups and hit the road to Grandpa's house, because he had expressed an interest in buying Karen's Jeep from her. It was dark (8:00 pm or so) and very cold by the time we got to McDonough, but we bundled up and gave tours of the Jeep and the new car to Grandpa, Deb, Uncle Kevin and later to Uncle Nick & Megan. Grandpa and Kevin rode with us to pick up some pizzas for dinner, after which Nathan spent an hour or so playing with Kevin's laser pointer. Kevin, in fact, was gracious enough to let Nathan borrow it for a while, too. So Nathan made out pretty well - a big new car to ride in, a hockey stick and the loan of a cool laser pointer for the next couple of weeks!
It began to snow here early on Wednesday morning, but it didn't get cold enough for any sticking and real accumulation until just after lunchtime. It didn't stop snowing, though for nearly 24 hours and when it was all finished, we had just under 5 inches on the ground! Yes, I know that's nothing if you live in Chicago or Buffalo or Pittsburgh, but 5 inches is the most snow Atlanta has seen in 10 years. And boy did Nathan have a good time playing in it, too. We stomped around making tracks in the front yard, stomped around and played with Hershey in the back yard (sliding down his snow-covered swing set slide was a treat) and built little snowmen on the deck. And when he got bored with playing around our house, we went for a couple of walks around the neighborhood, too, so he could see that the white stuff had fallen on the houses of all of his friends, too.
Nana was here on Friday to visit, and Nathan had her read one story to him after. On Saturday, we spent the morning at the vet's office, picking up Hershey from his overnight stay to have a little surgery (He's fine.) And then later on Saturday, Karen took Nathan to see the new Disney movie "Snow Dogs." If you take a small child to see it, just be aware that there is a scene near the beginning where the dogs become very aggressive, growl and bear their teeth, which could frighten a little one. Nathan calmed down quickly, though, and seemed to really enjoy the rest of the movie. Naturally, he told me all about it when he got home.
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