It's official: Oliver has the sniffles. Although he's extra cuddly, he's mostly acting like his usual self while awake. He struggled last night, though, and woke up a few times whimpering. It broke my heart. When he clears his throat, I can hear congestion. Thankfully, all his symptoms are very minor.
I don't want to take him out and about because I don't want to get others sick, but I also feel bad for cooping him up in the house all day. I know I can take him out back, but he'll be disappointed to go outside and not be allowed to play with the water. So, we're going to have a day of bath time, videos, and new and (hopefully) fun activities.
Our first activity today is called Ring Fun, and it's from The Toddler's Busy Book. It takes some advance preparation, but I was able to do it in just a few minutes while Oliver napped. You need a plastic container of some sort. The book says to use Play-Doh or something similar as an adhesive to hold a spoon upright. Give your toddler canning rings to toss onto the spoon like a game of horseshoes. If you want to have them play the game and not be distracted with the Play-Doh, then you use the lid to your container and punch a hole through it for the spoon handle.
Yesterday, my family came over to celebrate my brother's 30th birthday. I have a few plastic containers leftover from brownies that my mom brought. I decided to use one of those for this activity. The plastic is thin, but it was still difficult to pierce. Use caution if you do this. On the plus side, the slit I made held up the spoon on its own. I didn't have to use Play-Doh or anything to hold it up. Here's what our version of the game looked like:
Once Oliver woke up, I showed him the new game. He caught on instantly, and he enjoyed tossing the rings onto the spoon as I counted, "One, two, three!"
The entertainment lasted for under five minutes. When he got bored, he looked carefully at the rings. He then decided that they belonged on the jelly jars in the fridge. He ran to the fridge for me to open it and got a bit upset when I told him they don't go in the fridge. Maybe I just should have let him put them in there.
I distracted him from being upset by putting rings on his feet. He really liked that, but he didn't like me putting them on his wrists as bracelets, and he got a bit angry when I hung them on his ears. In fact, he told me, "No!" "No" is Oliver's newest word. He started using it on Friday. It's a bit comical, really, but I try not to laugh when he says it.
I give the ring game a C+. It didn't provide for much fun for long. I hate to get rid of the toy, but it's just sitting on the kitchen floor, unused and ignored. On the other hand, set-up wasn't that difficult, and I was lucky to find supplies that I already had on hand, so it was free for us. In other words, it wasn't a complete waste of time, but it wasn't very entertaining, either.
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