My husband and I are musicians. And we’re parents. When we are onstage, we do our best to really be ON stage. But all our “backstage” experiences with our son (our little frog) deeply affect who we are as people, thus musicians. Recent insights: 

Playing concerts around Thailand and putting finishing touches on Spring tour dates has not helped to diminish my innate aversion to cold weather. I don’t like to feel tense and cold. And I despise getting out and about with gear and kid in tow, navigating icy streets and dirty snow drifts.

But in my last blog post I noted that my kid is starting to grumble about winter along with me. And this feels like a crummy thing to pass on. So I have made big efforts to let my son make up his own mind about winter (and have some fun in the meantime!). No surprise, it’s been more fun for me to rally than grouse. I am still pining for warmth and ease, maybe a few years in Thailand. But these recent activities have helped to chase some of the blues away:

• We’ve been listening to Liam Neeson read the Polar Express.
• We had a sledding date. (The big hit was the three friends running at the bottom of the hill.)
• We made snow angels and snowmen.
• And we regularly check the status of our swimming pond (still hasn’t melted)