It is spring now.

Big day yesterday, first day of spring and all that. I bought some daffodils on the way to Toddler Gym because my garden is still under snow, mom. (My sister's crocuses and things are up, is why she was asking.)

I only have the one vase, inherited from my grandmother, so I've kind of just put the rest of them IN things.

You know, around.

It feels so springy. Speaking of Spring Things, Eleanor's Muddy Buddy came in the mail shortly after we got home from Toddler Gym.

Excellent, I thought. We will put it through its paces after nap time. Come at us, puddles. But then Eleanor barfed (inexplicably, but in the bathroom at least) so we spent after-nap-time watching Robin Hood and eating toast

Today, the second day of spring, was back down to -20 WHICH IS NOT A TERRIBLE TEMPERATURE ESPECIALLY FOR LIKE A DAY OR TWO. It's just, all the puddles are ice, for now. You will have to wait your turn, Muddy Buddy.

SPEAKING of things coming in the mail, that is maybe the best thing about living far from home. Maybe the only good thing. Eleanor gets excited about mail in a major way: mine, hers, anyone's. My mother-in-law sent a Valentine's Day package, and it got here a few days early on a prohibitively cold morning when I was already thinking about SELLING ELEANOR ON EBAY and it wasn't even 11:00 am. But then suddenly, by the magic of mail, we had stickers and a new book and when Eleanor went down, I ate ALL the chocolates. Because I needed them.

This has been a good week for mail. Early this week, two maternity dresses arrived from the lovely Ara Jane, who sent them to me after I coveted one of them on her instagram. They are chic and wrap and short-sleeved and I am going to wear them to DEATH and then continue wearing them after this baby is born. I was going to take a picture of myself in one yesterday but then Eleanor barfed, and nobody wants to clean up barf wearing their best new dress.

The next day, a package arrived ADDRESSED TO ELEANOR which she gets super jazzed about, because she can recognize her own name. It was a new Snuggles, from her Tante Gillian and Unky Matt, to replace the one barfed on and bagged up and lost in Edmonton. She was SO GLAD TO SEE HIM.

'My Snuggles was lost,' she says. And I don't know if she means he was lost and then came back in the mail, or if she realizes that one of the Snuggleses has been missing, because WE didn't tell her. We're not sure she knows he's not people. Anyway, now I can go back to washing one of them periodically, thank the goodness.

Today being the second day of spring but not a day to do fun Spring Things in, we planted a few of our seeds.

I was sort of baffled last year when my plants actually made food. I will be boggled again if these seeds turn into plants. IT BLOWS MY TINY MIND.

You are so far not terrible, Spring. But you could step up your game.