Archives for posts with tag: Playtime

I have started and failed to finish several posts this week. It has been difficult for me to get into a good writing flow. They were all very long posts but they just didn’t seem right to me. They all were incomplete as well. I have had a lot on my mind but the words just won’t form correctly. Today, though, I am going to try a bit harder.

Yesterday evening I was thinking to myself that I would really enjoy it if I had a rainy day tomorrow. A day to just slow me down a little bit. A reason to stay inside, cuddled up with my sweetheart. A day where I could use the bad weather as an excuse to not run errands, go somewhere fun, walk to the park, or whatever ever else came up. 

For over a week I haven’t slept through the night. Last night was no exception. As I lay in bed I considered a walk to the park with Jackson today. No workout, take a rest day because I haven’t taken a rest day in over a week either. But a nice 1.5 mile walk and maybe some swimming. My brain was active as I lay in bed considering all the things I could do today. I finally decided to get myself up for the day, having stayed in bed a bit later knowing I didn’t plan on fitting in a workout. Alexander started slowing moving around, then kicking. It was time to start my day. 

Imagine my surprise as I waddled into my kitchen, not greeted by the usual beaming sunlight that radiates through the massive set of windows we have. I was greeted by grey sky, rain, clouds, and utter wetness outside. My heart skipped a beat. My rainy day! I hadn’t even checked the weather forecast yesterday. I had no idea rain was coming. I just wished it would, to force me to slow down a touch. As I sit here and write I am accompanied by the sounds of rain falling on my skylights. Heavy raindrops writing their own song. Jackson is still asleep. He likes to sleep late on rainy mornings. There is no sun radiating around the small space around his blackout blinds. 

I am not sure what we will do today. My dishes could be washed. I was too tired last night to wash the ones from dinner. Legos are already spread across my kitchen table. Except for the small area I am afforded for my meals and well my laptop I am typing on now. We have a ton of books we could read. I have a new big Ninja Turtles coloring/activity book we could make our marks on. Maybe we will do all of them. If he keeps sleeping much longer, there won’t be a nap today. Especially on a day where we don’t wear ourselves out playing outside or going on an adventure. 

As I sipped my coffee earlier, watching the rainy day, I couldn’t help but thank my Gma (that is what I called her a lot). I can’t help but feel like she may have had a hand in providing me with exactly what I needed this week. Forcing me to slow down a little, her girl who is always on the go. Thanks Gma, you did me a solid. 

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View from my kitchen

Yesterday I decided to throw together a quick sensory drum for Jack. I call it a drum instead of a box because I used a drum he received for Christmas. It was an instrument set. All the instruments were inside this drum. He has lots of containers that his toys go in. Even a Pirate metal bucket from Easter. I chose the drum because half of it is see through.

I used things I had in the cabinet. I raided my pantry! I used rice, split peas, kidney beans, black eyed peas, and lentils. I had the kidney beans and split peas from a Thanksgiving decoration I made and then I had the other things just from previous recipes. I used his toys inside of the bin. I didn’t have to go out and buy anything specific for this activity. That was nice. It felt like a freebie!

It took me maybe 5 minutes. Most of the time I spent on it was looking for all the bags of dried goods to put in it! What an easy activity to create. He really likes it.

At first I really buried all of the toys. Trying to get him to dig for them. He wasn’t so interested in doing that. Maybe because he is still 15 months that concept was unclear. BUT if they were poking out a bit he loved searching for them. I could ask him to find a certain object and he would dig it out.

Found a block

Score! A car!

Today he pulled objects out on his own, without any prompting. I found the lid to the drum and he also enjoyed putting the lid on and taking it off.

It gets slightly messy, beans and rice all around the drum but nothing some vacuuming couldn’t fix. I vacuumed this morning from yesterday’s session. Jack loves when I vacuum. He gets so excited every time I bring it out, which is at least once a day these days. I don’t mind the mess so for me that was no big deal. The way I see it, he is learning and learning can be messy. So is life. It is nothing a 5 minute vacuum session cannot take care of!

Next on my list is a felt car mat! He is obsessed with cars. He has started to “drive” his cars around and make car sounds. I think a car mat would be right up his alley. I also plan to make a felt board for him to play with, since he also loves magnets so much.I thought it would be nice for him to learn how other things can stick together besides magnets.

I hope to have the felt mat done before next week. I will post that project as well.

I have been trying to find fun things to do inside as the weather gets chillier and chillier. Jack has a short attention span as he is a little baby. He wants to go and play but he can’t quite crawl yet. That can frustrate him. I have to keep things fresh for him so that he is happy. I was reading through the Gymboree iphone app on my ipad. I really like this app. It has a lot of fun ideas. Sometimes you get stuck in a rut doing what you’re used to. A refresher of fun kid activities is always nice.

We built a fort. Something I did all of the time as a kid with my two brothers. Our indoor forts were massive and would take up our entire living room. Yet, I forgot all about those days. One of the suggestions was “build a fort.” Right up my alley. So we did and we had fun. I may have had slightly more fun than Jackson, but eventually we will be on equal ground.

I really enjoy our play time and adventure time together. Sometimes I feel like I get to relive my childhood all over again. Being silly, building forts, singing funny songs, getting messy with food and whatever else, splashing in the tub, swinging at the park, going down slides, etc. Who wouldn’t want to be a mommy? You get to act like a silly dilly bar all over again!

Speaking of that our Neverland Pirate Band CD will arrive on Tuesday. The deluxe edition, meaning there is a Pirate bandana in it. I am not sure who I really purchased this for, Jack or me. I really like the Pirate Rock Band! HA!

Welcome to Fort Jack

Jack is working hard to build the fort....

Fort! I actually fixed a few things on it later

Playing in the fort

It had two rooms

Practicing his skills

Thumbs up Momma, I am just relaxin in my ball pit room

Back in the main room