Toddlers love ice - too much

Last night it hailed a bit at our house. That happens when the entire state is blanketed in end-of-the-world darkness that is typical with late-spring severe thunderstorms and the dozens of tornadoes we were cursed with here in Minnesota. In typical dumbass fashion, I waited until the rumble of thunder was steady to drag my after-work ass out to the garage and make room in the project-filled single stall death trap of a structure work the wife's crossover (SUV). My car, however, would have to linger curbside and pray to the gods that it survives without hail damage for the second time.

But as I said earlier, it hailed. Not a whole lot but enough for me to panic and slide my sandals on and run full speed from the front porch to the street and give my car the shelter of a Maple tree to ride out the storm. I didn't get a chance to inspect my sexy black beauty this morning as my old lady took it to work before I even crawled out of bed but the real story here is about my daughter.

The 19 month-old terror that she is wanted to go outside and see why dad was outside and she wasn't. After the worst had passed, we ducked outside to grab a few hailstones. I, of course, had to snap a photo and relate the hailstone's size to a quarter (the hail was larger) and after I had taken the photo, The Youngling grabbed the piece of ice and was instantly happy.

Until it melted. That's when the breakdown happened. I've never seen anyone of any age so utterly distraught over the melting of ice. It was sort of funny to me but also maddening and a little deafening because she expresses herself only three ways -- giggling, cryling and hysterically crying. But last night she took it to a whole new level and added a fourth form of expression. Hysterically screaming with intermittent fits of stomping wildly.

Somewhere, deep inside, I was laughing but this sort of behavior -- at least from a kid -- isn't tolerated. So we stepped in to action and tried to calm the situation but once a toddler's hailstone melts, there is no place for calming. The only cure for a loss as great as a piece of ice is time. And in due time, she calmed down enough to move on from that tragic loss.

If you want to see photos of the storms which swept through much of Minnesota, check out MinnPics.