Big Fun, Big Day

How to Tire Out your Busy Toddler in a Few, Quick & Easy Steps

1. Take Child to Jump Planet

... or any number of the currently-popular bouncy house warehouses of fun. Unleash and watch them jump, slide, bounce, run, hide, laugh and shriek with wild abandon.

In Benjamin's case, the first 45 minutes of our session encompassed a lot of shrieking in terror and clinging to me like a baby monkey. I'm not sure if it was the size of the place, the garish red, yellow & blue bouncy houses of doom (in his eyes), the loud & constant fans, or the shrieks of the other children, but he kept saying, "Go to my car!". Eventually, he warmed up to the place and was running, jumping and bouncing along with everyone else... but not before I had "tortured" him by taking him down a few slides and climbing through some of the mazes. For a while, I wondered if he was going to hate me for bringing him to such an awful place and making him have way too much fun. All in all, I think he did have fun - evidenced by the fact that I had to drag him out of the bouncy house equipped with multiple basketball hoops.

2. Feed Child a Hearty Meal

While driving in the car, we munched on peanut butter and honey sandwiches, red grapes, grape tomatoes and milk; Benjamin downed his drink in no time flat and was on to the sippy cup of water before I had even taken my first drink! On the way to the Asbell home, we picked up a round of mini Frosties for all.

3. Unleash the Beauty of Unstructured Play

Once we stepped inside their house, Ethan, Evan and Benjamin ran around like crazy and played nonstop while Michelle & I sat and caught up on things. It was such a delightfully wonderful afternoon. After a couple of hours, we had to head for home and for a much-needed naptime, so we had to say goodbye. Before we got to the end of their street, our little tornado of boundless energy looked like this:

Sweet Dreams for a Tired, Busy Boy = a very Happy Mommy