We have snow this first day of November. Halloween it began snowing, and I was in bed with Emil, who woke at five this morning and whom I coaxed back to sleep by convincing that that Mama was on her way, when K came in and said, “You know it’s snowed?”

At first I thought she was coming in to crawl into bed with the two of us, but in fact there were three of us: L woke up at some point around seven or so and crawled into bed with us, so when K walked in, the first thing I said was, “You know, we don’t have room for you, too!”

Of course there was no more sleeping — the Boy was up, the Girl was chatting with him, and we were all huddled together in E’s big bed, so there was no turning back. The day had begun.

Besides, the Girl’s doll needed a diaper change, and the Boy was more than willing to take on the task. But like so many things — like our story telling effort from the afternoon — the whole activity doesn’t hold the Boy’s attention for long.

It’s partly due to his age no doubt. In fact, what’s more surprising than how frequently he loses interest quickly is how often he can become completely engrossed in some activity — drawing and playing with cars most often.

Blocks can often hold his attention, but when it’s time to build — to really build — he’s not the one you want around. He likes destroying as much as building. No, more than building. The Girl, though, has rediscovered Legos, and this afternoon we had a little father-daughter building time. Nana saved some of my old toys, and most sensibly she saved all my Legos, so the Girl and I dig in to build a food crusher for when she’s playing animal hospital.

By this time, the snow was long gone and the wind had kicked up. It always makes me a bit nervous, especially considering how close some of the huge oaks in the backyard are to our house. Given they’re size, they could likely do some serious damage to our house if they fell at just the wrong angle.

But it’s not our own trees that worry me most, but a large oak in our neighbor’s yard that could potentially take out our whole upstairs. And by the late afternoon, the wind was constant, and the trees in the were swaying violently.

But eventually, the sky cleared, the wind disappeared, and the most unexpected first day of November in memory passed into evening, snacks, baths, serenades, and sleep.