Remember how just yesterday you were young, maybe a newlywed, dreaming about the eventuality of a house full for children? Then you blinked and here you are- in a house overrun with hilarious little people.
There are occasional days that seem like they will never end. Days with toddlers can be long and tedious, even if punctuated with great moments of hilarity. I never thought I would be the mom who actually checked the driveway at 4:30 pm to see if that non-existent noise was my husband coming home early from work- yet here we are.
I’m all about structure and routine for your toddler’s day to day, but what about when everything flies out the window? Or what about when you’re sick of making them play or be interested in toys or activities they just aren’t into anymore?
You know that feeling: you look at the clock and it’s 3:27pm; you’ve been stacking blocks for what seems like hours; the 3 year old wants to build the biggest “‘ower!” but 4 towers in, nothing makes it past 6 blocks high because the 2 year old finds it equally fascinating to knock down the tower, clap her hands and say, “Yay! I did it!” You don’t want to sit on the floor and stack blocks ONE SECOND more. You know if an errant block hits your toe, or eye, or knee one more time you may lose your mind. But, you ALSO know that if you are asked to read that one super annoying book that you see your 3 year old eyeing, (In our house it’s called “10 Fat Turkeys”) you just KNOW for a FACT that your brain will LITERALLY EXPLODE! And you will have these thoughts for REALS and think “Did I mean LITERALLY explode? Or figuratively- no, no, it is LITERALLY– ok maybe both. If I have to read that book again my brain will literally and figuratively explode.” Because, let’s be honest, you try to follow as many coherent thoughts as you can that contain big words because if you don’t, you may go days without holding an intelligible conversation with an actual English speaking human. So yes, you follow those trains of thought- you follow those long brain rabbit trails, because you are pretty sure those brain rabbit trails will guide you to sanity. As you are thinking about guiding yourself to sanity with the littles running crazy around you, and it has felt like an eternity lost in your thoughts, but all the while you continued stacking blocks to build the aforementioned tower, and then suddenly the baby knocks it over again, the other two freak out in unison, and it is then that you look at the clock AGAIN and it’s only 3:28.
The internet is full of fantastic things to do with your toddler to stimulate their little brains and fingers, but I can never quite find what I’m looking for. Since I have 3 toddlers and a variety of personalities, I finally made myself a list. This list is not just of things that are good or fun for my toddlers to do- but things I enjoy or actually WANT them to do!
There is a huge benefit of having multiple toddlers at home: mainly that when one of them wants NOTHING to do with whatever activity or “thing” is going on, there is almost always another kid who wants in on the fun. For example, If I start singing…. One kid tells me to stop singing, one will request another song, and yet another will begin clapping right on cue.
Take this list for what it is. It works for us. Not every kid will like every activity, but some will like many, some will like most, maybe yours will hate all of them- but if it’s 3:28 pm it’s worth a shot.
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