call for desperate measures. I'm slowly making and gathering activities for Charley to enjoy once our new munchkin arrives, and so far, I've been able to keep them put away. Until yesterday. He refused to go outside. Doesn't that seem unusual? What toddler doesn't want to go outside? Drew pointed out that he really dislikes the process of getting ready, and I think he's on to something. (If anyone has a way to quickly dress a 22-month-old for winter, please let me know.)
So we stayed inside...all...day...long. Wow. *I* was even sick of it!!! (Many people are probably thinking, "You're the parent, get him dressed and go outside!" It's true. I'm the parent. And I am 33 weeks pregnant and weigh exactly that many more pounds than normal. Getting him dressed in winter gear is like wrestling with a grizzly.)
First I let him play with the building blocks I embellished the other night. (I would have made tons more too, but it dawned on me that permanent marker fumes are probably *not* the best thing for a developing baby. Um, duh. This is from someone who uses no fragrance in anything for the same reason. I get really into projects and lose my logic, you know?) Then I got out the new lacing cards I made him the other night, which I'll also have to show another time since there are no photos. Last we played with the pipe cleaners I bought at JoAnn's the other day for $.50 and an oatmeal canister. I had intended for this project to look more like this, but seeing as he doesn't care about matching colors in the least right now (as well he shouldn't) it was more like this:
As he gets more adapt at putting the pipe cleaners in the holes I'll probably punch up more containers and break out some tubes, a colander, wooden beads and spools, etc. I love how many cool ideas are out there for taking a household object, adding one thing to it, and Voila! a totally fun (and hilarious) toy.
Some other fun pipe cleaner ideas:
weaving (for a little older kid)
Anyway, there are tons of fun things to do with pipe cleaners that require basically no planning on your part. Excellent for those stir-crazy moments! Today we're headed outside this morning, before I'm too tired to cleverly convince him it's the best idea ever. Wish me luck!
