Shack Wacky

I am slowly going crazy, 1-2-3-4-5-6 switch… I had this little rhyme in my head on more than one occasion last week.

The city is entrenched in ice and snow and it’s been far below freezing. Not ideal conditions to be running the roads with an 18-month-old, when there’s nowhere we really have to be. Our regular activities like music and gym have been cancelled more than once, so there have been a lot of stay-at-home days as of late. It doesn’t help that I really hate driving in winter conditions.

Yes, yes, I’m thankful I have no commute. I don’t have to deal with bad weather, traffic snarls, boots/mitts/hats/scarves x2 on a daily basis. Technically I can stay in my pajamas all day long (I don’t) and… just relax? Ha! Guess again. There is nothing relaxing about being home with a toddler when you don’t really have the option to leave. Sure, there’ve been days when we don’t leave the house (but the best piece of advice I received when having a baby was to try and leave the house at least once a day, no matter what. Yes. Do this. Everyday. For your sanity!). But that’s because it was my choice. There is a difference!

After a few days in a row of bad weather, the days get longer and l-o-o-o-n-g-e-r. Especially when a toddler has the attention span of a goldfish. Set up all the sensory play stations, art & craft tables and reading nooks you want. Each will be used for approximately 3 minutes and it will take you three times as long to clean them up as it did to set them up. Yet reading the exact same story 736 times in a row is just to be expected.

By 10:45a.m one day I had to leave the house. It had been flurrying for a while earlier on but it stopped, and the roads looked ok, and there were lots of cars passing by the house. There was just over an hour until I had to think about lunch and I just had to get out. No answer at my parents place. No point dropping by there. To the library it was. Bear LOVES the library. This is the kid who one day stood by the door with her backpack and when I asked her where she was going, she said “library” and when I asked her where she’d like to go on holiday, she replied “library.” By the time we were bundled up, out the door and across town it was 11:20. I didn’t care. Thirty minutes of playtime anywhere but my living room sounded good to me.

There weren’t many people around for a change. The place is usually packed so either everyone was already home for lunch or avoiding the roads like I’d been all week. Bear happily tore around the playroom and became fascinated with puppets. She even took them into the puppet show booth all on her own, making the little frog toy “talk”.

We were back home in the kitchen by 12:30p.m. The short but sweet outing broke up the day. Bear was chanting “Library! Fun!” And I had a bit of my sanity back. All in all, a good day. And only 25 more until spring!