Almost noon and it looks COLD, riiiiight? We're all bundled up, and he's only wearing one layer of top and botton!

It’s starting to get warm, although admittedly it’s still quite cold and breezy here, on summer-in-March-in-the-Philippines standards.

I used to believe I am not quite a winter person (as if I’ve seen more than enough winters to come to that conclusion, har har), primarily because I am, or used to be, a beach person. My ‘regular programming’ mode just seems to get impaired whenever the temps drop. I almost literally cannot move and think rationally when it’s too cold and all I can think of is sleep, sleep, sleep, and hibernate wrapped in fluffy white duvets!

I have to admit though that coming to Tokyo just as the winter was ending (still too cold, I tell you) was quite a treat. For one, I thoroughly enjoyed layering and parading about in my coats and boots and winter garb, oh lovely stuff that don’t stand a chance of seeing the day here in my tropical home. My oily skin too was at its finest, dewy and glowing, thanks to the arctic coldness that seemed to freeze my oil glands, too. No sweat, no oil momma! Very conducive for running and working out -- and for walking around with a heavy toddler in tow. I literally didn't break a sweat, considering I walked kilometers upon kilometers while carrying my heavy little guy.

If you ask my husband and my little guy though, they’d probably tell you their different stances on the cold. They’d probably tell you they love the freezing temps, with no abandon, to the hilt. My husband is a cold junkie. He embraces the cold and refuses to wear thick, weighty coats even if it’s freezing. My little guy, we realized was just like that too. I meant other than the tell-tale sign of profusely sweating in our cold airconditioned room and peeling himself off the blanket while I'm all cuddly cold and wrapped up.

The only time I remember he happily wore his gloves (because it was really, really freezing then). Not for too long, though. LOL.

Imagine running around in 6 degrees temp with just one layer of clothes? My mind just can’t wrap around the thought! Granted, it was a pair of thermal top and pants he was wearing, but my golly, I had to wear three layers that time! And so did most of the Japanese folks we saw outside that time.

My little guy just flat out refused to wear gloves even though his hands were freezing. He never got to use his bonnet -- to think I bought us identical Zara kids bonnet so he’d be more inclined to match Momma’s “hat.” Hah! He evaded wearing his coat. The struggle (on our side, the parents) to wrap him back in his winter outer wear whenever we were coming out of an establishment was oh so real. I feared his hands would turn blue, or his ears would fall off from frost bite. But the little guy was a happy trooper, sans Momma’s coats regalia, and freezing temps be damned. Whew.

I guess we have to take him to more winter trips then. :) I myself am starting to get charmed with the chilly (chilly enough to don two layers plus a chic coat, and maybe knee-high boots) but not-too-glacial weather and fancy travelling to the ‘colder hemispheres’ some more soon. :)