Archer starts Kindergarten August 24th and to be honest, that day cannot come fast enough. Let's get one thing clear, I love my son and I have loved being able to have him to myself the past 5 years. I am in no hurry for him to grow up and this whole "leaving the nest" phase is very hard for me. It's the "entertaining" part of the summer that is slowly draining me of my mental stability. Archer gets so bored and so of course, I am expected (by him) to be the entertainment in his life. I could take him to Chuck E. Cheese, a movie, a friend's house, and then buy him an ice cream and the second we got home he would say "Now what are we going to do?" I try not to take it personally, but sometimes my feelings get a little hurt! It is hard for him to be stuck with his mom and baby sister all day everyday. To make matters worse, it is dangerously hot outside and to make matters double worse we disconnected our cable. So here are the things we do on at least a weekly basis to make sure we don't all lose our sanity...
- Playing with Floam, Moon Sand, Play-Doh, and slime. I "eat" a lot of cherry pies made from these materials.
- Fan tents.
- Couch cushion forts/trampolines (this is one we do everyday).
- Playing chauffeur to Della. She can only stand the heat for about 5 minutes before she overheats. Della and her cousin Jack are like human thermometers, they turn bright red when exposed to temperatures above 80 degrees.
- Playing with the hose. I know that Houston is in a drought and we have been asked to participate in voluntary water rationing. But there is an even more serious drought that threatens out home, it is of my patience.
- Slip N' Slide.
- Friends over at least twice a week. I beg people to please leave their kids with me, it really does make my life a lot easier.
- Mom's Day Out gymnastics. 9AM-1PM every Thursday for $15. I used to balk at the price. Now I would gladly pay 3x that amount.
- Asking for junk food. This takes up at least 2 hours of our day.
- A chalkboard.
- The "craft cupboard." I used to keep it stocked with craft supplies like paper, crayons, kid scissors, etc. I have become so desperate for finding things to entertain him that he now has both of our staplers, a white out pen, address labels, 100 q-tips, and at least that many cotton balls. He has officially taken up the entire bottom of our pantry.
- Reading factoids from The Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong by John Mitchinson and John Lloyd and then quizzing me on them. "Mom, what does the moon smell like?" The answer is gunpowder according to scientists and astronauts who have been in contact with pieces of the moon.
- Reading factoids from The Book of Animal Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong by the same authors. "Mom, what is in a camel's hump?" The answer is fat, the extra water is actually stored in their blood.
- Looking for the ever elusive "biggest spider in the world." He looks like this...
so if you see it, please let us know. On second thought, don't let us know, that way we can keep it on the list. - Calculating how many seconds are in a day, week, month, and year. The answers are 86400, 604800, 18140000, and 217728000 respectively.
- Watching "Qubo". We get about 3 English speaking channels with our antenna. One of them shows only reruns of Oprah, one has the picture of local weather reports but the sound of whatever is on ABC, and Qubo which only shows cartoons (unless the microwave is in use). I think this is Divine Intervention.
- Telling anyone who will listen about the infomercials on Cubo. He says things like "Mom! The Hover Disk is the hottest toy in America!" or "Mom, do you want rock hard abs?" or "Mom, do your heels feel like rhino skin and do they rip through your "danny"-hose?" or "The turbo snake has specially designed hooks that will pull hair and debris right out of clogged drains!" or "Mom, I have a great idea of how to get money. Call Gold Paq and they will send you an insured envelope. You put your gold inside and in just one day you will get your money!" or "You can put Space Bags in water and it will protect your stuff!" I could go on, but you get the point.
