Pumpkins, Potties, and Parties: How We Entertained the Kids On a Cold and Rainy Weekend
- Abby Hillary
- Oct 30, 2017
- 7 min read
Back in the day, before we had kids, cold and rainy weekends were kind of romantic. You know, the kind of weekend that is just so gross outside that you decide to curl up with your partner, grab a nice cup of hot cocoa, and just enjoy the sound of the rain and read a good book or watch TV lazily all weekend. Rainy weekends were perfect for recharging.
Then we had kids.
I love our kids. I love that I'm a mom. But this bigger family unit does bring an entirely new course of action for a cold and rainy weekend, especially when one of the kids is a busy toddler. Gone are the days when we can just lounge around, catch up on some recorded shows, and watch football uninterrupted on a cold, wet October weekend. Now, it's all about how we can provide activities that will keep the kids entertained and engaged but at the same time not completely exhaust ourselves as parents. When the amazingly simple yet best solution of playing outside is not an option, I try and get creative. Of course, I could Google "What to do with a toddler on a rainy day" till my eyes fall out, and sometimes I do. Or I'll search Pinterest and pin something with every intention of going through it later. I'll be honest though, most of the time I find something and think, "Oh, that would be great!" and then I completely forget about it. I REALLY need to get better at committing that stuff to memory, or at the very least, remember that I saved it somewhere.
Anyways, I digress. Since I pretty much suck and planning every day activities out ahead of time, a lot of what we do, unless it is a scheduled event, is done on a whim and in the moment. This weekend was a lot of that, with a bit of scheduled fun thrown into the mix. Here's a peek into how we spent our weekend - if you're better at keeping track of planned activities than I am, feel free to store this list and use any of these activities!
Trunk-Or-Treat
I've said it before and I'll say it again - our daycare is amazing. Last year they did a costume parade on Halloween, and it was so cute to see pictures of Annabelle and her classmates all dressed up. This year, they did it a little different by doing a trunk-or-treat and we loved it (partly because it was something to do, partly because all the kids in their costumes were so darn cute). It was originally scheduled to be in their parking lot, but was moved indoors due to weather. There were 3 teachers, the director, and assistant director that had a spot by each room and they handed out some great age-appropriate treats (pretzels, fruit snacks, etc). It was adorable seeing all the little ones dressed up, and when Annie recognized her friends (aka kids from her class), she went absolutely nuts with excitement. It was really fun as a parent to see them interact outside of pick-up and drop-off. One of the little girls in Annie's class is named Emmy (yes, just like her cousin) and as soon Annie she saw her, you would have thought that she was getting a giant present or something. She absolutely squealed with delight and started yelling "Emmy! Emmy! Emmy!" and ran up to her and started doing their secret language toddler talk. It was very heartwarming. The trunk or treat timing worked out perfectly, too. It was small, so we didn't spend so much time there that the girls got restless, but was just before naptime, so it made for an easy transition when we got home. As a side note, I know not every daycare does a trunk or treat, but I know there are many offered in Grand Rapids, and in lots of other towns as well. If you're looking for one, you can easily Google it and find one in or near your city. It's a really fun option for the younger kids that don't quite understand the concept of trick or treating yet, or just don't have the attention span to do it for very long.
Painting Pumpkins
Since Halloween is TOMORROW (how the heck is it already Halloween tomorrow???), we knew we couldn't put off getting and painting our pumpkins another day, and it was a GREAT after nap activity for the girls! They aren't old enough to remember WHEN or WHERE we got our pumpkins, so after the daycare Trunk or Treat, we swung by the grocery store and Dan ran in and got the smallest 2 pumpkins he could find. Yes, THOSE were the smallest. After Annie woke up from her nap, we laid a drop cloth out on the floor, stripped the girls down to their diapers, and let them go at it. Annie knows what pumpkins are and kept saying "Pun-tin! Pun-tin!" She did most of the painting on both pumpkins, but I was able to have her put some paint on Ellie's hand so that Ellie could do it a little bit too. This activity actually lasted longer than I expected, which was great. It was only because we were running out of paint that we stopped, otherwise I'm sure Annie would have done it for at least another 30 minutes.
Sunday Morning TV
Ok, ok, so not the most original "activity." But it kept the girls entertained for a little bit while Daddy got some more sleep. Ellie has gotten into this new habit of waking up at 5am every Sunday. She doesn't do this ANY other day of the week, but this is now the third Sunday in a row that she's decided it's party time nice and early. Annie usually wakes around 6am, but if the house is quiet, she'll silently sit in her crib until probably around 7ish on the weekends, sometimes longer. If any of you have met Ellie, you know she's NOT a quiet kid. So when she wakes up at 5am, Dan or I will try to get her back to sleep, but when that doesn't work after trying for anywhere from 30-60 minutes, I end up taking her downstairs so as not to wake Annie. Sometimes it works and I get maybe another 30 minutes where Annie stays asleep. Sometimes it doesn't. It's all about getting Ellie downstairs at JUST the right time before Annie starts stirring. This past Sunday, I ended up taking Ellie down at about 5:45am, and at about 6:15, I heard Annie yelling to be let out. I ran upstairs and got her, hoping that I did it fast enough, so that even if Dan did wake, he was able to fall back asleep. Thankfully, I think I was successful, as he didn't come downstairs for another hour or so. After I brought Annie downstairs, I got some oatmeal ready for both girls and we enjoyed breakfast. Then it was TV time. Sunday morning is pretty much the only time I use the TV to entertain the kids. I don't have anything against moderate amounts of TV or screen time, sometimes it can be a great way to bring a wound up kid's energy level down a notch. Annie's just not terribly interested in it for long periods of time. But this past Sunday morning, Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger were on consecutively, and she has shown some interest in both of those shows, so we had a bit of quiet TV time. I pulled up her chair a good distance away from the TV, set Ellie's seat next to it, and watched the cuteness ensue. Granted, the scenes captured in these photos didn't last forever, but it was just enough of a break for me to catch my breath. And there are far worse things that they could watch than Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger, so I am totally cool with how that morning went.
Potty Time
Oh yes, you read that right. We are starting to introduce the potty to Annabelle. She's pretty good about letting us know about pooping, sometimes as she's going, sometimes after. We're still working on the whole before part. But whenever she says "Poop poop" and we check and there's nothing there, we take her to her potty, read her potty book, and sit with her for a few minutes to see if anything happens. She's very familiar with the whole bathroom process. She knows she has to take her pants off, then her diaper. She knows that she has to wipe (even if she doesn't do it properly, she knows the movement of it), and she knows to wash her hands when she's done. At some point this weekend, and honestly I don't remember which day, we were sitting in our living room and she was quietly playing in the other room. Or we THOUGHT she was playing in the other room. When Dan got up to see what she was doing since she'd been silent for a few minutes, he turned around to this:
I really don't know what is most funny about this photo - the look of guilt on her face, the amount of toilet paper all over the floor and flowing outside the door, or the fact that she'd put Baby on the potty. Needless to say it made for a great laugh and fantastic photo-op. Jokes aside though, working on potty training with Annie on the evenings and weekends (we're not forcing it, just continually introducing it to her when she gives us cues), is starting to pay off. Our 19-month old actually peed on her potty this weekend! I thought for sure the first thing in the potty would be a #2 since she's pretty vocal about that, but it was actually a #1. We made a huge deal out of it and her potty sang a song and cheered for her. She even got a sucker as a reward. Yes, that was the one and only time she went in the potty all weekend, but it's a start!
That's a wrap for our weekend full of pumpkins, potties, and parties! I'd love to hear what suggestions you have for rainy and cold days with toddlers, as I know we'll have more and more of them coming up as it gets colder here in Michigan. Maybe this time I'll actually commit the ideas and suggestions to memory!
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