House Arrest

I am a homebody. I usually love to stay home with the family, watch some movies, make a nice dinner, drink some booze...that is all nice for a day, or two, maybe even three. But at this very moment I am stuck at my home due to Nemo, the blizzard not the fish, for the third day in a row (technically I have been in my house since Thursday at 1PM) and I am clawing at the walls to get out.

WTF is all this white stuff?
...the pooch seemed to say

Why is this different? Well, we are literally stuck in our house. The roads have at least two feet of snow on them, and there isn't a plow in site. Where do I live? In the rural suburbs you may think? NO! The city of Boston. And nary a plow in site my friends. Actually that is a lie! Plows have driven by our street, and one even attempted to plow our street, but got 10 feet in and decided to call it a day. So we are stuck. Not only is our street not plowed, but the street that is on the side of our house (we are on the corner of two streets) is not plowed either. So we are F'ed in the A, as I like to say.

The fact is even if I wanted to leave our house I am unable to physically drive my car down the street (see snow level at left - my dog is 60 pounds people!). And boy do I want to leave our house! Normally if we had a three day weekend, and we decided to make a staycation out of it and hang at home, I would be totally cool, but now that I am housebound all I want to do is drive away. To where? Anywhere!

Nemo...I like the movie better

I am not sure what happens now, as the sun is lowering over the horizon and we are trapped like rats in a cage. The one plow that attempted to dig us out has come and gone, with no other plows in site. There is absolutely no chance of driving over the 5 foot mountain the plow created to escape our neighborhood, so we will have to sit and stew for the unforeseen future.

We have tried multiple times to go out and play in the snow, but there is actually too much snow for M to play in!! We can't build a snowman because the snow won't pack and we can't even get to our yard because the snow is too high to walk through. This just adds to the frustration of being surrounded by snow - that we can't even play in!

M actually has school tomorrow, and she is probably, for once, looking forward to going just to get out of the house and away from me, and her sister that refuses to nap these days!

Oh! Did I mention our dishwasher is broken? What a pain in the balls it is not to have a dishwasher.

There are a lot of exclamation points in this post :)

Updated: Stir-crazy? Yea, me too.

I, Mama J, figured I would add to Mama Q's list, rather than starting a new post! See my suggestions/activities listed in purple...

As you have probably noticed, there's been a good deal of snow this year. Add in the days with subzero temperatures, and you've got a recipe for Cabin Fever. Before having Baby, I was a classroom teacher and I somehow managed to keep 20 kids busy for 6-7 hours a day. Yet, after a few hours inside with one tot, I'm counting down the minutes to Curious George's debut on PBS. So, for readers' sake (and my own sanity), let's make a list of things to do to keep from going stir-crazy. Add on ANYTHING you can think of that will keep the under 2 crowd busy for 10 minutes or more.

1. Water play: fill a Rubbermaid bin or similar container with water, add in bath toys & cups, spread towels around
2. Finger paint: Slide a piece of white paper into a large ziplock bag, squirt temper paint into the bag, seal and give to baby to squish/squeeze
3. Shakers: Fill [hard to open] containers with dry rice, pasta, salt, flour, water, etc. and let baby shake to see how the sounds differ. Trying to get these open will also keep baby busy
4. Sponge paint: Give baby wet sponges to use on colored construction paper (no paint needed). If Baby eats paper (as mine does), tape it to the fridge
5. Video chat: Call your partner, parent, grandparent, or friend at work/home and chat for 10 minutes. Baby (and you) will be excited to see a new face.
6. Play in the cabinets: Open up the lower cabinets and have pots, pans, tupperwares, etc that Baby can play with safely
7. Walk around the block: Bundle up and walk around your block. Use the ergo/bjorn if the sidewalks aren't shoveled. Even 5 minutes of fresh air can make a difference. And you'll kill 30 min with all the time it takes to bundle Baby up.
8. Play with boxes: If you live in the city, you probably get stuff delivered. Diapers.com boxes are great for painting, coloring, tearing, building, or filling with balls ($10-$15 at Target) and putting Baby inside.
9. Dance party: Start a new Pandora station with the band "Bon Jovi" and dance through at least 3 songs. You'll kill time, burn calories, and if you dance like I do, your kid will get some good laughs
10. Play date: Chances are your friends and neighbors are itching for some contact with the outside world too, so give someone a call. Being bored together is much more fun than being bored alone.
11. Play with food: Put a squirt or spoonful of baby food onto your child's high chair table and let them finger paint withit
12. Empty Mama's Purse/Wallet: I let Marlo sit with my diaper bag/purse/wallet and empty everything onto the floor. Always something fun in there that keeps her attention for a while. 
13. Bother the Pooch: When we are really desperate we walk over to Ellie, our dog, and pet her or rub her belly. Doesn't kill much, time but it is something to do!
14. Play with DVD boxes: I have our dvds all lined up in a cabinet that is within her reach, so I let her pull them off the shelf and play with them on the floor. For some reason she loves doing this. 
15. Tissue Paper Collage: Buy some contact paper (the one that says it is very sticky, not the one for covering books that you can remove) and some tissue paper in assorted colors. Tape a piece of the contact paper, sticky side out, to the wall, or a table and let your kid stick pieces of the tissue to the sticky paper (also works with magazines)
16. Tear up magazines: For some reason my dog and my daughter love to tear up anything made of paper (tissues, mail, receipts, etc.). Since I get so many magazines I will let her sit there and tear them up, and listen to her squeal with joy as she does it. 
17. Parachute Duvet: We have a big fluffy duvet on our bed, so we sit at one end and pretend it is a parachute like we use in class and sing songs (well, I sing) and lift it up and down. This is a big favorite. 
18. Take a bath: Most days we are stuck inside I fill up my big tub in my bathroom and put body wash in it so it bubbles up and I get in with her and play with the bubbles. 
19. Play on Mama's iPad: download some kid friendly apps to your phone/ipad and let them enjoy! (see previous posts about favorite applications for kids)
20. Build a tent: just like you did when you were a kid...get a blanket, some chairs or a table and build your best tent. Bring toys under it and have good times!!


What have you been doing to keep busy? Help us build this list, there's another foot of snow on the way...

Only Teachers Like Snow Days

Okay, so I’m exaggerating with the title of this blog, but after today, I think it might be a little true. J

The past few weeks have been on the Northeast, a bit too much winter wonderland for me. I’ve never really enjoyed winter, at least not since I’ve been a grown up who lived in a world that did not stop when it snowed. Last year I traveled from my home in the suburbs through 3 feet of snow, into the city for a meeting scheduled by people who lived in the city and didn’t understand this was not a matter of having trouble finding a cab, it was a long and seriously drawn out, tedious process. Aside from the joy of trekking in the snow, there was the issue of child care. I was fortunate enough to have a husband who could stay home to care for our daughter, but there was no way our babysitter was getting to us that day…nor was there a chance she was getting to us today.

I’ve been reluctant to call out when there is snow as I know how many others are contending with the elements as well, so on today’s most “glorious” display of mother nature, my husband and I both stayed home to work and share the child care responsibilities since our sitter couldn’t make it out in the morning conditions. I don’t think it is a solution we will be considering again soon.

First of all, I seriously need a new list of tricks from mothers of 2-3 years olds. We colored, did memory cards, played with play dough, used chalk, read books, watched a show, ate breakfast and played store all before 10a. Mamas, PLEASE post some alternate ideas and suggestions that are easy go to for this age range that I can keep around. My daughter has an inappropriate amount of toys, but not much that she can or will do independently at this point. And while I adore the fact that she wants me in the middle of everything, as I was trying to email my boss, and take a conference call, it was not great.

Second, babies have a sick sense of radar for when you need them to sleep. We are blessed with a generally amazing baby who naps (I assume this is because she thinks sleeping in is 6a). However, NOT TODAY! Today, it took almost 2 hours to get her to lay down and fall asleep…and not until there were tons of tears (hers, almost mine), several visits to her room and many attempts to “rationalize” with a baby…who is too young to really be rationalized with. After she finally collapsed in my arms asleep (2 hours later), she awoke abruptly an hour and ten minutes later. Some days she has napped for four hours, most days three plus, today an hour.

So while I did enjoy working in my pajamas today, and treasured the extra time together, it was a far more stressful day than I expected and one that I wish I could have managed differently. Should I have called out of work completely? Should I have requested our sitter to be there in the afternoon, just in case? What did you do with this, and with other snow storms? And what ideas can you share about making the most indoors so that you don’t find yourself losing patience and enjoying the moment less?