Thursday I did something that I was very ashamed of. I stayed inside all day and never left my house, resulting in a very major funk by 4:00 p.m. Contributing to the funk was Nathan's lack of nap. Which meant not only that I didn't get a break, but also that I was blaming myself for my poor parental skills, since a good parent should be able to get her kid to nap.
I will say that the funk was slightly remedied by a trip to the Starbucks drive-thru alone (because Bill is still home grading his finals all day). That trip was like a small dosage of Prozac; it didn't cure my depression, but it got me motivated enough to realize that I needed to do something to make myself better. So I dragged myself through a snowstorm to go to aquacize at the gym, and I vowed to do better for the rest of January.
So I made a mental list of small, local, indoor attractions that we could go to for Nathan to burn off energy and for me to get a change of scenery. Friday we went to a new McDonald's playland we had never been to before. I'm embarrassed to say that we stayed at that McDonald's for two hours. (I'm also embarrassed to say that I ended up ordering a hot fudge sundae during those two hours.) But Nathan had a really great time and played with the other kids while I read and played with my cell phone. And then we went home and ... still no nap.
Saturday was Day 2 of my new resolve to get out of the house more. I had my two classes at the gym in the morning, so the gym daycare took care of Nathan's indoor recreation needs. And then I told him we were going to start doing "quiet time" instead of a nap. I said he had to stay in his bed (easy since he is the only almost 3-year-old who is still sleeping in the crib) and either read books or sleep. He took the most awesome nap, and so did I. Unfortunately that left us at 5 p.m. with a very well-rested boy. Bill had decided to actually go into work to grade his finals, so I was on my own for the evening.
We headed over to the crappier of our two local malls, although that assessment is only on my part. I think Nathan loves that mall. It's like a miniature amusement park for children. Before we left we rummaged through the Big Bag of Change to get quarters so he could ride on the little cars that jerk you around. He took 5 rides before we ran out of quarters. Then he bounced at the bouncy castle place for about an hour. And that place also has a side attraction where, for $2, a kid gets to drive around a little track in a Power Wheels. (Funny side note, there's a remote control for parents to use when kids can't really steer the cars very well. Unfortunately I couldn't really steer it very well with the remote, either.) Then we went to Old Navy and I spent $123 on God-knows-what to try to make myself happy. It worked, by the way. I bought some $15 turquoise sneakers, turquoise being my current happy color.
Also we went to Bath and Body Works and I bought myself some lotion and body wash in my new favorite scent there, Sensual Amber. What an extremely dumb name. Anyway, also bizarre was that outside the B&B Works, they had set up some cages containing baby tigers, a baby kangaroo, and a lemur. That mall is like a seedy carnival.
So, if you're keeping track, our indoor entertainment in the last 3 days has consisted of: the gym, McDonald's, and the mall. Today we're meeting some friends at the Oasis, which basically means another McDonald's playland. And tomorrow we're probably going to the other, better mall. Tentative future plans include a children's museum and my possible Area Library Tour.
The thing is, this effort to keep both of us sane is very exhausting. If I go to the gym, that pretty much does me in, energy-wise, for the day, but sometimes it doesn't take up enough time. And yes, we do spend a lot of time at home, but there's only so long we can stay here before I get too frustrated over the lack of cleanliness and have to leave. And contributing to that frustration is that when Nathan gets stir-crazy, he starts walking around the house destroying things.
I guess we could play outside, but it takes 15 minutes to get dressed and undressed, all for like 10 minutes of play.
Anyway, this stint of Winter Camp Director is killing me. Why is it so much harder to have fun in the winter than in the summer? Oh yeah, it's the sub-zero temps, the shoveling, the massive amounts of clothing, the limited recreational opportunities, and the 16 hours a day of darkness.
A popular blog theme this time of year is the "indoor entertainment suggestions" post. Many of these are cute things you can do inside your home. Paint the sides of your bathtub with pudding! Build a fort like a pirate ship and have a Pirate Party! Freeze some household objects in ice and have your child chip away to excavate them!
Seriously?! All of those are a lot of work. And maybe I'm just extremely lazy, but I don't want to be scrubbing pudding out of my grout, just so my kid can have 15 minutes of indoor entertainment.
So in that sense, I am thinking outside-the-home entertainment efforts are the better option. And I'm proud of myself, and all of you fellow cold climate-dwellers, for doing whatever it takes to survive the winter. (Okay, not whatever it takes. I'm not thinking alcoholism is the best coping mechanism, even if it can be done indoors.) Hang in there, people!
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