It's cold. And despite all my desires, when the windchill hits 35 below, I will stay home with the girls for the day. A lot of women I know never leave their houses. I have no idea what would possess them to do this. Actually, I do know, and they are good reasons, but not for us. Maybe two days during the week we stay home.
Anyway, during the dark, deep, bear hibernation winter, this all changes. I am required to stay home. Winter one was easy, b/c Maizie napped in the afternoon and so did I. Winter two, same thing. Winter three, tougher-two kids. Lots of t.v. for Maizie, and I kept telling myself it was because I had a new baby and that things would get better in years to come. Never again, I swore, would I pass a winter with television.
Results show: Winter four, not better.
As we speak, my napless 3 year old is watching Blues Clues. She's already watched Curious George (one and a half times), Superwhy, & Sesame Street. This is not good. She is like an addict. The more she watches, the more she wants to watch.
I feel pretty guilty about this.
But, before I am too "judged," let me tell you what else we did today.
We played: restaurant (a LOT), Pat-Pat Rocket, tickle war, dance-a-thon (mommy exercised), and magna doodle.
We had blanket time...this is when Maizie sits on her blanket for about an hour and quietly plays with puzzles, books, dominoes, and magnet sets while I sit on the
couch and read my Bible and other books.
We colored a zillion pictures from Maizie's coloring book with colored pencils, which she seems to be quite good at, but takes forever.
And we read about 100 books-half of them non-fiction (we're learning about birds right now), a science magazine (thanks, grammy!), and three iSpy books.
So....
My question is, those of you moms who rarely leave your houses and don't let your kids watch t.v....
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!
I am staring down another month of this, and I can't even begin to fathom coming out a sane person. I am afraid when it's done, I'll be a cross between Mr. Noodle, Steve, and June, and I'm not sure I can handle it. But on the other hand, at least those people can speak (MOST of those people, anyway), have friends (despite the fact that most of them are talking animals), and a fan base.
So maybe the t.v. is better than the alternative of no t.v. and coming out of the winter with a fake smile, wide-blinking eyes, glitter stuck in my hair, and responding to everything like a preschool teacher ("Ohhh....weeelll....oopsies....that blow torch to your sister is probably not a great idea, but what ELSE could you do, sweetie? *blink, blink, blink*").
I'm taking suggestions. Not one time craft ideas, but real life suggestions on what to do with myself and my kids for the rest of the winter. So, I beg, if you've got this under control, please give me the heads up. I feel like I need to take a community ed. class about mothering in a MN winter.
sigh...
And now,
more Blue's Clues.
