I think it's just a given when you have kids in daycare, they are going to get sick. I think it's also a given that when one kid is sick, no matter how careful you are, the other one will catch it. Because they loooooove to share germs! I bet you know where this is going...
They are both sick. Sick enough that they can't go to school, yet not really feeling sick, so they are in great moods (99% of the time). Matt and I have been taking turns staying home with them - Tuesday and this afternoon were mom time. We decided today to switch mid-day because if I go in super early and he stays late, we can practically both get a full day in.
It also means that we had such a fun day yesterday! We couldn't really leave the house thanks to what they have, but I was pretty darn creative in entertaining them anyhow. Henry decided to sleep in, so Thomas and I made breakfast together. As soon as I started pulling out the ingredients for his "can-cakes!", he ran to go get his red spoon to help me. Don't judge on the Bisquick, I bought so many different mixes to test out waffle recipes that I am going to use them. Also note the laptop - had to try and stay up to date with work since we are in between drilling sections - Thomas didn't seem to mind the occasional interruption (whew!).
Henry finally decided to join us after we finished off our breakfast. Luckily there were still plenty of pancakes. And Thomas was super absorbed in his magnet play set that he's only allowed to use at the table (because stray magnets terrify me with a baby that tries to eat everything).
First order of business was to build a slide with the couch cushions in the front room (aka the kids playroom). We did this yesterday afternoon when I got home and they had a blast. This time I took a little more time in set-up so there weren't any gaps or slides that would topple over.
Thomas had a BLAST!!! He climbed up, jumped / slid off over and over and over again. I think he spent a good 20 minutes going at it. Like I said - they are not acting sick, they are full of energy for some reason...
Thomas decided the slide was "too dangerous!" for his little brother and was trying to keep him from climbing back up on to the couch. Henry did not appreciate the "help". These two are going to be wrestling opponents and best buds if today was any indication.
Luckily Henry never stays mad for long! :)
On to the next activity, which was me pushing the boys around the house in the laundry basket. First it was Thomas, then Henry, then they both wanted in, then they wanted to switch front and back (I say they, most of this was dictated by the vocal one...). I figured I wasn't going to get a workout in anyway, so I did as much pushing as my legs could take before I gently dumped them over and claimed the basket was broken. So sad. :(
I made this awesome dinosaur headband while Henry was eating breakfast, but Thomas had to wait for the glue to dry to wear it. He was convinced I was making him Christmas trees when I was cutting out the spikes and would not listen to my explanations of "cool dinosaur hat". He wore it and seemed to like it, but then Henry was trying to touch it, lost his balance and ripped it in half. I'm sure you can imagine the chaos that ensued...
I fixed it up for Thomas, but he refused to wear it the rest of the day if his brother was around. In related news, I think I might make myself one!
As you can probably guess based on previous posts, I had switched to ideas from Pinterest. I swear, that website has the most creative craft ideas. I scoured my list to see what else was feasible with the limited (ok, endless... don't judge!) craft supplies on hand. And I found the Rocket Balloons!
This one is where you put a straw on a string, string it up, then attach the balloon to the string and let it rip! It worked so well on the first test string, that we strung a longer string across from the front to back of the house. The boys loved it!! I did too, I got dizzy from trying to get more and more air into the balloon. :)
I even rigged up a clothespin to shut the balloon so that Thomas could get in on the fun. We didn't quite manage to make it to the front door, but we did get to the tile entry! Also note the change in balloon. Thomas was trying to help me by blowing up the balloon for me. When I went to get a new balloon, he was all concerned.
"Momma, what happened?"
"You tried to blow up the balloon and got germs on it. I love you, but I don't love your germs."
"I love my germs momma!"
Ha - no wonder he is so happy to share them with Henry...! :)
Today, when I was hanging out with Thomas in the bathroom, I noticed the roll of toilet paper was empty (imagine that...). So while I was giving them a snack, I looked up ideas for the toilet paper rolls I collected around the house. And I found two activities that I combined into one awesome color sorting / fine motor skills pom-pom / tube activity. They both loved it, though Henry was much more interested in trying to tear it down. I need a little more adjusting on the tubes to get them to fall back into the box, but it wasn't bad for a first attempt!
The blocks even got some play time today. They never seem to want to play with them unless I start playing with them, so I pulled them out and started making a "castle". They, of course, both wanted in the castle. Henry waited until I took Thomas to the bathroom and bull dozed the castle. After rebuilding it, I instituted a 4 minute time-limit in the castle. Thomas loves having a timer going when I tell him he has "a few more minutes" and he doesn't argue when it goes off (please let that last forever!). After his four minutes, I put Henry in the castle fully expecting to have to rebuild it all over. I was shocked, he just sat there and enjoyed his time in the castle. He pulled off a block or two to hold, but otherwise left it alone. Awesome! After a few rotations, we called it a day and headed over to eat dinner.
All in all it was a fun day (and a half) with the boys and while I am sorry they are sick and not loving the crazy hours to make up for them being home, it was a great time hanging out with them. So glad they are such happy little guys! :)
And since I was on a Pinterest craze, I have a few photos from older activities that I never got around to posting, so these are some other things we've tried recently!
Getting ready for some footprint art! Thanks to daycare, he loves doing handprint and footprint art. And there are *so* many ideas out there. Plus it's usually pretty easy. Win-win!
He was pretty proud of his painted foot! I actually had to do both feet, but did them one at a time. I do not need a stray foot covered in paint dangling around, thank you very much.
Footprint dinosaurs! So if you look closely at the inspiration photo on my phone, I totally did the footprints backwards. Whatever, Thomas loved them even if his toes were in the wrong spot. :)
Truth be told, I was trying to do footprint hearts for valentine's day and was failing miserably, so we changed it to dinosaurs. Hey, dinosaurs can be romantic!
Nothing says "I love you!" like a green dinosaur face full of teeth! Also, it's really hard to get all of his toes on the paper, I don't know what he does with his feet when I am holding him up, but it usually looks like he is missing a toe. Silly Thomas!
The activities for babies are much more limited, especially a baby who will try to eat everything. So I decided to try a sensory bag, which are all the rage apparently. The first one was a huge fail - not surprising that baby oil and colored water was more exciting to me than the baby. So I gave it another shot with pom-poms and water (much safer for leaks!). Also side note - who knew pom-poms had so many uses??
He wasn't too sure what to think of it, but I thought it would momentarily be a good distraction while I was trying to finish the laundry. He didn't immediately throw it on the ground like the paint bag, so that was a plus.
But I think this photo sums up his feelings about it. "Nice try, mom. I'm not impressed." Ha - it did at least manage to keep him distracted for me to fold the load of clothes and get back to real playing. Babies... so hard to please!