Playtime

Most of the time, Burl and I are pretty good at having fun during the days when John is at work.  Swimming. Friends. Outside.  General playtime.  

But sometimes I have to get stuff done.  And sometimes we just run out of things to do and we just look at each other with a look that says, "ok...what's next?"  

Those are the times that can get really fun:

Every Monday is laundry day.  (I'm the tryandgetitdoneinoneday kinda gal.)  First, I start with the sheets on our bed.  This is a great opportunity to play Run and Jump-a game that Broseph came up with.

Burl sits on the bed and giggles and laughs as I run towards him, yelling, then jump/slide on the bed, knocking him down.  I didn't/couldn't get pictures of that scene.  And it is quite a scene.

But, I grabbed sthese pictures of him waiting and anticipating the great leap.  By the 3rd picture, he was done waiting and wanted the commotion.  Giddy up.  Here comes your pregnant mama. Airborne. 

....................................................................

Today, we had absolutely nothing planned.  There were several "what next?" moments.  Burl wasn't answering me, and I was at a loss.

Then, the light bulb went off and I remembered hearing that I could make my own play-do.  I used the first recipe I found by google and went with that.  

For the record, I'm buying all my play-do from now on.  Even though it was a lot of fun, the clean up was a bit more involved than I wanted it to be.

Overall, it was really fun to watch him be so interested and fascinated by having his hands fixed in goop.  Picture lots of rolling, squeezing, and slinging play-do...all with high concentration and heavy breathing.

He even got so excited he wanted to climb on the table, 

to which I used my mom voice and said, "Down. DOWN. Good boy."  "Oh, DOWN {again}." Then he wanted to get the stuff that he slung on the floor.  That's when I knew our time was over and bath time was about to start.  Bath time played a close 2nd to play-do time.

....................................................................

Later in the day, I took him to the duck pond that my mom took me when I was little.

Things have changed a bit since I went there as a preschooler.  First off, there are pigeons.  Pigeons are kind of like the birds' version of homeless people.  Nothing against homeless people, but they have some similar traits.  Hanging in parks...asking people for food...sometimes they get it, sometimes they don't.

Ducks on the other hand, they're like Burl.  They like their bread.  As children, we always took bread to feed the ducks.  Ducks will fight for some bread, and I respect them more for it.  They'll swim over each other, race around without shame just for a piece.  Until a toddler chases them for it.

No lie.  I don't think he noticed the animals once I got the bread out.  I tried to throw the bread around Burl so the ducks would run and get it, and it never worked.  Burl got the bread first.  

Another thing that has changed is the ambiance.  There is a Walmart and a gas station across the street.  Take that, serenity and peace. 

There was a little table there, so I made good use of the self timer option on my camera.  I was going for a cool "from behind" shot, only to realize I look like I have a wedgie.  Klassy.

We faced forward for the next picture and things got a little better.  My hair was still a mess, but I'll take what I can get.

He enjoyed himself.  And man, did he take good naps today.  Play hard. Sleep hard.  That's our plan.

If you know of any blogs/websites/books that offer suggestions of fun, FREE activities to do with a 15 month old, then please send them my way.  I'm almost out of cool ideas, and Burl needs to think I'm the coolest there is.