I’ve been trying to come up with fun projects for E to do now that we are home-bound a little more than we used to be. I think we get out of the house now just as often as we did when E was F’s age, but that’s really not that often. Once I figured life out with a baby, E and I got out by ourselves most days. Usually, it was to run errands, take S lunch, or go see friends. And I won’t lie, 50% of that was most likely just going to the commissary for a handful of items. That lifestyle pretty much came to a screeching halt at the end of my pregnancy. I was slow, cumbersome, felt like I was falling apart, and the weather around here doesn’t exactly scream “come outside!” And now with 2? Well, I have ventured out with both of them by myself a few times, but it’s still a daunting task. I don’t see any trips to the on-post preschooler resource center any time soon (although, I do need to try to get the courage to take them to story time).
When my dad was here, she got someone’s undivided attention at all times, but when he went back to Georgia (F was 3 weeks), she lost out on attention by a third. We were (hell, are) still tired, the weather was still terrible, and we had a newborn who needed to eat every 34 seconds. I tried to carve out some time every day for just the two of us. I would feed F and then she went to S until we could no longer hold off a feeding.
I try to keep our activities educational, but it turns out I grossly overestimated her attention span and patience when I ordered some of the materials I have.
Arts and crafts came next, and thanks to my parents, some of those are educational. For her birthday, they got her a subscription to Kiwi Crate , and it has not disappointed. Every month, they send her a box with two projects in it. They come with a little book that teaches her a little something about the project, and it is done in a coloring book style. So far, she has made a menorah for Hannukah (we never got around to making dreidls, but we still have all of the stuff to do it), a story board, a marionette, a pair of racing octopi, and… I can’t remember what else. She thoroughly enjoys them and it is a welcome diversion away from coloring.
E’s menorah
Baking is undoubtedly her favorite activity. Probably because it is a “grown-up” activity that we have always done, but is now something in which she can fully participate. This year, Santa sent an elf to stay at our house–yes, I caved–and he left her activities to do beyond “where is Barney?” scavenger hunts.
Barnacle “Barney” Bill
The cookie-making activity was by far her favorite (Barney actually failed at having a project every day, and to be honest, some days he seemed to struggle finding a new place in which (on which?) to hang out. But cookie-making was the best day, and we didn’t even go all-out.
In fact, we used the recipe that came printed out next to the coupon for Rolo’s in the Sunday paper.
Pretzels.
Rolos.
M&Ms.
The best part was she could do all of it but the putting-in and taking-out of the oven part. She spread the pretzels out. She unwrapped (some of) the Rolos. She put the rolos on the pretzels.
I, of course, heated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, placed them in said oven for 5 minutes, and subsequently removed them. While they were still warm, she (very carefully and with a lot of hands-on supervision) pushed the M&Ms down into the warm Rolos.
They were a huge hit. She loved them, we loved them, and they were fun. We ended up making a second batch to take to my parents for the holidays along with my traditional peanut brittle and pecan pralines. She was very proud of herself, and we have dubbed these E’s cookies (even though, obviously, we didn’t even come up with the recipe).
Now that S is back to work, I am starting to struggle to come up with more projects. We generally only have a 90 minute period in which to do something just the two of us while F naps. We still have our PCS chain to make (oops) and the kiwi crates keep coming, but I would like to, you know, not get any fatter with all of the baked goods. Play dates are always welcome, but they require well kids (and it’s sickness season!). She’s really ready to get out and do a structured activity on a regular basis, but A) we never registered her with the Child and Youth Services on post and B) we are leaving so soon, I don’t want to start something of which she would have to leave right in the middle. But as soon as we get to Fort Lee, she’s going straight into swim lessons and I will be looking for a movement and rhythms class.
This whole entertaining a 3-year-old with an infant thing is hard.
