K. was diagnosed with an ear infection two days ago, which explained his crazy-high temperatures and general crankiness over the weekend. He's on the mend, thankfully, with antibiotics, but still doesn't appear to be feeling tip-top. Consequently, although we have an invitation for a play date this afternoon, I think we'll stay home and let him rest up a bit more.
Add to this the fact that it is about 25 degrees outside, so that eliminates any opportunity for getting out in the open.
So, knowing that we had a day of hunkering down in store, I tried my best this morning to be creative (and limit my cell phone-Facebook checking!) with games. I am pretty proud of myself in terms of how I filled the morning.
Here's a list of our activities up until naptime.
7:30 am Wake up
7:30 - 8:30 Lounge in Mom's bed drinking milk and watching the news with a bit of Tivo-ed Bob the Builder mixed in (I feel guilty about the TV watching but hey, he's sick, and he was resting the whole time, right?)
8:30 - 9:00 Breakfast (mini pancakes, strawberries, and a squeezy yogurt)
9:00 - 9:45 Play-doh party! Fun for Mom, too.
9:45 - 10:00 With K. losing interest in Play doh and pulling out his new Christmas gift, the Fisher Price Little People learning town, we played "house" and "school" intermingled with "making a pizza" and delivering it to the Little People. Some of his cars got in on the action as well. ("Car ... eat pizza!" etc.)
10:00 - 10:15 K. loses interest in Little People and pulls out his Sesame Street doctor kit, another Christmas present. He proceeds to give Mom a check-up then moves on to giving his toy dump truck a very good analysis with the otoscope.
10:15 - 11:00 The action moves downstairs to the basement, where his Thomas train table can be found. This ensures a good chunk of time while Mom can goof around on the computer - glory be! (So much for my pledge not to check Facebook.)
11:00 - 11:10 K. happens to become intrigued by some photos of friends' kids Mom was viewing; comes over and requests photos of himself.
11:10 - 11:12 We flip quickly through Mom's electronic photo collection of K., to smiles and applause.
11:12 - 11:50 K. suddenly announces he wants to view hot air balloons on You Tube (don't ask) and we proceed to watch various videos, from a lovely hot air balloon race to "Lots and Lots of Fire Trucks" (oldie but a goodie) to a cartoon video of "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed".
11:50 - 12:20 Lunchtime! Ravioli, strawberries (he's actually EATING them these days so I'm sticking with a good thing) and sweet potatoes.
12:20 - 12:30 Reading books in the countdown to naptime.
12:45 Down for a nap!
I have to say, the morning did seem to fly by.
Do any of you have suggestions for other things to do when the weather - or your child's health - is not cooperating?
3 comments:
This sounds fabulous! Esp. pancakes! CAn't believe the train table was long enough for some FB time (oh wait, yes I can!)
We (meaning C. and my husband) are down and out with some kind of stomach bug, so I can relate to this. In every way. Our rotation: ride-on time; PlayMobil castle time; play (or real) vacuum time; play cook/bake/strain; books; set up paper/crayons, "draw"; break out maracas and put on music, dance; more books.
Another mommy friend shared something with me once that has really helped on difficult days, and is actually a good tip for general use:
Keep a large storage bin full of toys that you purposefully take out of rotation periodically. Fill it up one night, and put it in a place where K doesn't go. If you don't need it for a sick day, just bring it out whenever and you will be amazed at how he will entertain himself taking things out of the bin, playing with them, etc. "New" toys!
These are great suggestions, guys! Thanks!
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