Anyway, it's been a rainy long weekend. And, what with being indoors pretty much the entire last 3 days, I think we are all starting to get a little cabin fever.
(I was about to add that photo of Jack Nicholson from "The Shining". You know--where he's all, "Heeere's Johnny!" Cause it makes me think of cabin fever. But then I looked at the photo and it scared me too much and I decided not to add it. But I thought you should know.)
So, what with the rain, and the raining of the rain, and the overall raininess, I have been trying to keep the kids entertained. Jason and I have played many games of "Guess Who" with them. Which is also an exercise in patience.
The kids have watched "Space Buddies" three times. Or 15 times, but who's counting? They have built tents in the living room. I piled all the extra pillows and blankets in the guest room and let them jump off the bed onto the pillows. Because at our house, safety comes first. I blew up a balloon a buncha times and let it go, and they tried to see who could catch it.
That white blur at the top is the balloon. We are not so desperate that I have them trying to catch an imaginary balloon. Yet.
I've printed off coloring pages from the internets, we've baked cookies, we've watched that video of the baby tearing paper on YouTube a bunch of times and I am starting to crack up a little.
What do you do on rainy days that rain and rain and rain? I mean, I could deal with the rain if it weren't for all the rain, you know?
And the other day, the kids and I were chatting. It was that kind of random, stream-of-consciousness rambling that you can engage in with preschoolers. (Really pretty funny.) I said to Nate, "Let's start calling Ava AH-va. Doesn't that sound nicer?" So then, they started asking what new names we could give everyone else. (I told you it was a little trippy.) So Nate became Noot, and Daddy was Doody. And then Ava said, "What about Gracie?" And as we were changing the vowel sounds, I realized. Grossy. Oh, horror! Have I doomed her to a life of being called "Gross Grace" or "Gracie Grossy" on the playground? Why didn't I realize this before? I thought I had considered all the bad nickname possibilities! Why didn't you say anything?
Okay. I told you I was losing it a little bit. I'm gonna shut this down and see if we can get out of the house. I think I'm gonna go buy someone a pony or something. I gotta get out of here.
Okay, you had me going for a tiny moment with the Labor Tree. I dunno, Australia is like a weird place. Who knows what they do on their weird holidays?
ReplyDeleteAnd the blowing up the balloon, and the building of tents, you are trying so much harder than I would! I'd be like, "Hank, meet the xbox."
:)
I was also picturing the little laborer decorations hanging from trees.
ReplyDeleteGuess Who?!!! Oh my. Talk about a flashback from many teenage evenings in my basement...oh my that's sad.
I love the stream of consiousness conversations. I think they get even funnier as they get older. (Is it bad that I'm usually the initiator? "Hey, I bet the cat is havin' parties with her friends while we're not home. Riding dirt bikes in the house, wearing a TShirt that says 'I do my own stunts', little cat sized motorcycle jacket, smoking cat sized cigarettes, smashing cat sized beer bottles on the lawn..." You get the idea.)
Well, wouldn't it technically be Groocey? Grucey? (And be sure to roll the R.) So no worries, right? ;)
I vote Yes on a pony! :) I always will.
You are a good mommy to keep the kids so entertained on a LONG rainy weekend ! Did you pull out Hide-and Seek? Always a crowd pleaser.I played that Guess Who game with Ava, and she really liked it. Nate just wanted to knock the cards over. Praying for sunshine for you all.
ReplyDelete@ Amy: I'll be storing that balloon idea in my files for when I have a kid to entertain for hours. The best part is that you, the entertaining parent, don't have to move. You just have to sit on the couch and breathe and, like, watch Mad Men or something. Awesome!
ReplyDelete@ Sara: Yes, we were dorks, but I miss those teenage evenings in your basement. In our defense, we did try to make Guess Who?! more challenging and age-appropriate for ourselves by asking for more difficult, imaginative questions like "Does your person look like a tarted-up fortysomething at a singles bar on a Tuesday night?" and "Does your person look like he might try to lure you into a van with no windows?".
@ Amy again: Sorry to be using your blog as a space for reminiscing. But I sort of like that we've all become friends in some combination of real and virtual life, and now we're sitting around and BSing on-line!... So "Boo!" to all those nay-sayers who argue it's a dehumanizing replacement for real networks of human relationships!
David, I am laughing so hard at your "Guess Who" embellishments! Now THAT would make the game a lot more interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I have many ideas for kid entertainment that require little movement on my part. One of my faves is "superhero school" where I am the teacher and I send them off to practice their super skills. Like super speed, where they run around the house as many times as they can and I pretend to time them. This is how I get my blog posts written! You're right about the virtual hanging out--God bless the internets!
Sara--good point on the pronunciation. I can deal with Groocey! And I don't think you were sad in your teenage years. You probably didn't go to a Halloween party dressed as Counselor Troi, did you?
David, I was *trying* to remember how we altered the game! Ha! Do I hear Guess Who revival?
ReplyDeleteAmy pictures please of Counselor Troi!!!!!!Awe-some!