For parents like me with a toddler, it's always a challenge to entertain the toddler when they're home sick. Not only does he feel unwell, but restless and bored. When he is sick we don't go outside because there is a lot of wind blowing around and it can get worse. However, there are a few things we do at home to keep my little one entertained while he recovers.
Here is some of my clown routine:
Reading books
Probably with many parents this helps, but with us it's a fight for survival. Little one picks a book, I open it and every 2 seconds the page changes. I can barely see the picture on it and it's another one. This is our activity for about 10 minutes after we go through all the books in the quick procedure.
Building with constructors
Luckily he has an interest in various construction sets, legos and blocks. So that's always my backup plan for 30 minutes of play. Then of course everything bursts out, hides under couches, beds, blankets and pillows and I have to pick them out because he steps on them, shadows them or lies down on them and they edge.
Build a fort
The next phase we get to is always the hiding moment. To be able to get some work done I make use of the various cardboard boxes that are kept for the little one. I take the biggest one possible, put something soft on the bottom, a pillow and a blanket - his fort is ready. He lays down inside of course with 979887585 little cars, driver men and other toys, closes the top lids of the carton and can sit there for as long as an hour. Of course I also give him a flashlight that it is dark in there when he closes the lids even if they are not tightly closed.
I tried to achieve the same thing with a play tent, but it turned out that he just wants to store stuff in it without going in there.
Watch movies
The older my son gets, the more he gets into a movie. I can say for right now his favorite characters are Shrek, Minions, and Om Nom. Last night he watched the entire Shrek movie that was on TV. I was amazed at how interested he was in watching it.
Do arts and crafts
Games like that are his favorite. He actually makes them up himself by finding different things in the apartment. Some of his recent hits are - Diaper Cream - he smeared it on the wall, his push car, various other larger builds, his hair, his face and his clothes. When I asked him if it was that nice - he nodded approvingly. Large brocades of stars and flowers - I had intended to do various cool manicures with them a while ago - well no way, they were mixed with plasticine and scattered around the room. I thought I'd collected them all, but they're still popping up from somewhere.
And now the last thing that happened last night. This little guy had climbed up on the dresser about a foot and a half high and taken over a box I had stashed various things in that weren't for him - like little makeup brushes, fine glitter, false eyelashes and glue for them. Guess what he liked?
IT'S ALL IN BLUE, RED AND SILVER GLITTER! Starting from the floor, his bed, his hair, his face, his hands and his socks I just won't comment on them.
Now the best thing is that when I blow his snot - it's beautiful - because it has glitter on it!
Music
Probably most kids like the songs - we don't sing them we dance them. About a week ago his dad changed his phone ringtone to the soundtrack of a show we're watching.
The song on there goes something like "BOOM,BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BANG BAN BANG BANG". And my son , sings it "BONBON, BONBON, BONBON". All day it's that candy, and if I happen to make the mistake of asking "Do you want candy" he eats 5...
Variety in a toddler's day is a challenge, not because the child can't just have fun, but because the parent feels obligated to make his day a little more fun and make him feel good. Come to think of it, when I'm sick I prefer not to move from my bed at all, but with children it's obviously different.
I hope I have cheered you up with our story with the runny little gentleman. And we have made you laugh at least for a moment with our amazing stories.
You may notice I only have one photo from the personal archives - because it was the only one that was most representative after the little one's stormy play.
That was the story of our weekend!
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