Indoor Entertainment

When it was super cold our first two weeks in the shop, I did my best to entertain Laci in our trailer for as long as possible.  I would have been content to stay in the trailer all day, soaking up the warmth of the heater, reading books, and basically just lounging about.  However, Laci, at only a year and a half, doesn't like to be cooped up for too long, and certainly not for an entire day.

Overall, I'd say she did a pretty good job of hanging out with me, with limited toys and space in the trailer.  When the toy selection became boring, she was happy to stack plastic containers and lids.  In fact, she is happy to stack anything. A favorite game these days includes stacking books, blocks, containers, whatever can be stacked.  She is quite methodical about it too, preferring to have the books in order by size when stacking them. As you can see, clothing and hair brushing were optional during this period of time.

If you peek closely through the door behind my crazy stacking monster, you can get a glimpse of her "room."  It's the garage area of our trailer, equipped for hauling bikes, quad, fuel tanks, and in this case, a crib and a rocking chair.

And when all else failed - toys, books, and plastic containers included - I could rely on the iPhone for temporary entertainment.  She likes to play the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald games I've downloaded.  If she starts yelling, "E I E I E I" at you, it most likely means she wants to play on the phone.  It took me a little while to figure that one out.  What took me longer to figure out was that she actually prefers the spider game over Old MacDonald, but still calls it "E I E I E."  Whatever.  Most days I think I'm trying harder to learn her language than she is trying to learn to speak clearly.

Is this too young for technology?  When I was this age, I think the extent of my "technology" was the wooden telephone with the pull string, whose eyes wiggled around as you dragged it across the floor.  And yes, it became clear to me that she probably isn't ready for her own iPhone when she deleted half a dozen apps.  Not a big deal really, but frustrating anyway.  Guess that is my punishment for having to use the bathroom during the middle of an intense Itsy Bitsy Spider game.

I have been so thankful for the weather this past week as we've been able to hang out in our "living room" without having to bundle up in a hundred layers to keep warm, and we've spent plenty of time outside soaking up the fresh air and sunshine.  My heart nearly gave out when I saw the forecast for Thursday includes not only rain, but a significant drop in temperature.  Thankfully, I have plans that day so we won't be cooped up inside, but can I just say to the weather, "Enough already!"

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I had to update this to prove that I am in fact learning Laci's language, and it is not the other way around (as it should be).  She just asked to play with the phone and in reality, she says, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."  In my mama brain, it sure sounded like "E I E I O."  Before I had a kid, I always wondered how parents knew what the heck their kids were saying, and now I know.  There is no explanation.  I can only hope that retain my knowledge of the English language and don't start speaking in baby gibberish.