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| Well you are in the right place then.Also try mayasmom.com.We get into some pretty good discussions here lol. |
| posted by Lexi on 02/12/2008 04:18 PM
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hi welcome, I post every once in a while.. it gets less boring......I was in your shoes last year when my kids were 1 and 4 and I went crazy , and I will tell you 2 and 5 is much easier and it actually getting fun!! my son is in kindergarten now and he is meeting friends and we are doing things and he learning so much and now that the kids are getting older, I can start to do more things so remember is gets better as they age.. I know I kept telling myself that and it does.......
if you ever talk to chit chat I am here to talk...
there are great discussions and great people on here with alot of great ideas... last year was so tough because my kids were not playing together yet, what a difference a year makes....
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| posted by heidi on 02/14/2008 12:09 AM
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| What kind of things do you like to do? If I'm boring for an afternoon--I put some music on. It gives me an attitude change. If I find that it is lasting several days, it usually means I need sunshine or exercise...probably both. Call a girl friend and make a play date or a lunch date...change the scenery. We all get bored--it's saturday night and look what I'm doing. Good luck with it. |
| posted by Deborah on 02/16/2008 06:56 PM
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Check your local library for programs. I take my daughter to my library's Mother Goose story time every week. We usually go early so I can get some books and DVDs then we play in their little play area with some of the other kids until story time. I think the she just likes to play with some people besides mama! Plus, they have different toys than here at home.
Also if you live near a zoo, they always have lots of fun things to do (even in the winter). Our zoo offers a monthly story time with an "education" animal.
If you have a little extra money (we all do, right - haha), get a gym membership. A lot of YMCAs offer child care programs so you can drop your kids off for up to an hour and a half while you work out (or stand by the weight machines and chat with other stay at home moms who are desperate to meet other people). Ours also has a pool with an open swim time. We go once a week.
I found if I plan even ONE activity in the morning, the day seems to be so much easier. I've given my daughter a block of flower foam (at Wal-Mart or a craft store) and some fake flowers and tell her she's making mama a bouquet. I let her wash dishes with me. If she spills or splashes (on purpose), she has to get down. We "made cookies" with some flour, brown sugar, cinammon in a shaker and colored sugar (like for holiday cookies). You could also add some chocolate chips and other ingredients it's okay for them to eat, 'cause they WILL sample! They just like adding ingredients so get as creative as possible.
We did finger painting (on a plate) with (plain chocolate) pudding. If you're feeling ambitious, make a batch of vanilla or butterscotch and food color it. Or if the weather is decent, going outside for a "nature hike" or to build a snowman burns a lot of excess energy.
If you're really feeling ambitious, make an obstacle course. You'd have to set it up during naps or in the evenings after bedtime (which is why this is a rare occurence - those are my down times!). Make them stack cups, move bean bags or even just wash cloths from one laundry basket to another, have them launch a little stuffed animal off a board with fulcrum, tape a line on the floor for a "balance beam," draw shapes on paper, tape them to the floor and have them step ONLY on the circles or ONLY on the blue ones. This is a good way to teach shapes, colors, letters, numbers, whatever you are working on at that time!
Go treasure hunting at the dollar store - there are always fantastically fun things for SO cheap! The craft section is my favorite. My daughter recently spent an hour scooping these silly little puff balls I found there from one container to another.
The pet store is a great getaway in a pinch. After an illness, then a day cooped up from two feet of snow in our driveway, we escaped to the local Petco and visited the fish, birds and rats. One of the employees even let my daughter pet one of the bunnies!
As for meeting some grown ups, the local newspaper should have a community calendar with book club meetings, moms groups, breastfeeding groups, etc. Give your husband a "off" day and make him give you an "off" day to get some alone time. |
| posted by ktclick on 02/16/2008 08:21 PM
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Katie,
Those were some really great ideas! I have a 2 yr old son and a 5 month old daughte. My daughter still doesn't want to be without me so, it's been some time since my hubby and i have gotten out alone together. It's getting a little bit draining and sometimes it's hard for me to come up with fun, creative activities. Many thanks for your suggestions! |
| posted by Melissa on 02/16/2008 10:27 PM
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katie, wow!! I wished you lived by me, I do all those things too!! I love wal-mart craft hunting and I love dollar tree.. too bad I live in california becaue you could come teach my mommy and me classes... we give out tips and ideas and we could use you.... I agree most places have alot of what you were saying people just don't know about it.. also adult ed, here in california we hae mommy and me classes where we have fun and do craft for 1-4 different classes.. another great idea you had was I teach a moving to music class.. so some time in the afternoons I will do my class here at home with the kids.. we put on music and we use scarves and bean bags and we dance around... Lakeshore has great tapes and you can listen before you buy.... I think it lakeshore.com..
The YMCA has been a great rescource for me too!! also, your local city our city has a mommy and me pee wee play time twice a week in a gym where you can go play with yout tot.... Also, in the afternoon we go outside and blow bubbles and do nature hikes and also I forgot see you got me thinking Barnes and Noble has a train table in it and they do story time so look up your local Barnes and Noble, my daiughter and I went on Valentines day and we were the only ones and got a private story time it was fun.. WE also have Michael craft store and they do craft for tots one morning a week.. See you got me thinking....Sometimes I just do and I forget, also keep your bread and go to a local park that might have ducks, my kids love to go feed the ducks.. Some moms even go to the stroller strides, I think that is strollerstrides.com
well anways, you guys just got me thinking how to get things mvoving so you don't get bored!!!
heidi |
| posted by heidi on 02/17/2008 12:00 AM
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| sorry about all the typos in my reply above, guess I should of looked before I replied at what I wrote......... |
| posted by heidi on 02/17/2008 12:02 AM
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| Thanks for the compliments! My daughter has a mama who hates feeling cooped up - which is somewhat inevitable in this region where we get more snow than Alaska and the temps are sometimes just as frigid. It gets the creative juices flowing - plus I've found a couple of good books that have lots of ideas. I wish we had a Mommy and Me group around here, but I haven't found one yet. Can you start one yourself? |
| posted by ktclick on 02/17/2008 08:07 AM
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Hi,
Have you looked up a Moms Club in your area? There are two that are National: Moms Club and Mothers N More.
You will meet other Moms.
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| posted by Kara on 02/17/2008 08:48 AM
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hi, you could prob. start a mommy and me class in your area in do did not want to go to a already est. playgroup. You could charge a material fee. the mommy and me class I teach is thru our local adult ed, so we charge a very low cost fee it is $20.00 for two to three months and that is one 2 hour class a week plus materials.. I teach a moving to music class that is different but there is something called kindermusic question on the spelling they offer classes but the classes I teach are so in expensive we have a waiting list every time... you would be great at it with all of your ideas....
e-mail me at hmmarshall@cox.net and I can give you more ideas of the course outline and structure time of the class...
you could advertise with different play groups and at the library doctors office extra... we do themes for different times of the year too!!! I just talked to my friend and she said look up gymboreeplaytime and they have a fee schedule that might help you if you are teaching privately you might charge more plus a material fee..
heidi
heidi |
| posted by heidi on 02/17/2008 11:05 PM
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| I totally agree! I love being home, don't get me wrong. And I work from home a few hours a day which helps, I get to talk to other adults! But I do wish we had more to do. Some people had great ideas on here, thanks for that! We go to the library, the 2 nearby, at least once a week. And we go to the Little Gym. But I still wish we had more interaction with kids and moms. I asked others in my area on this site if they might want to start a playgroup but nothing so far. Oh well! Maybe I jsut need to have another...HA HA. |
| posted by Jean on 02/18/2008 09:37 PM
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