An adventure ...

If you're like me, you might sometimes have days where you need to get out of the house and find yourself coming up with reasons to run errands. But it's hard with the little ones, and you don't have the energy to get dressed. 

Somedays, I invent stuff for us to do. This little activity killed a few hours for us, gave me a sense of 'purpose' in my day (albeit invented) and my daughter loved it. 

Step one: use whatever materials you have around the house to make a basket / bag. Involve the little one -- they can staple and stick very well with your help. It doesn't need to be pretty (but it can be). We used the bottom of a 3L milk bottle, some ribbon that my new jammies were wrapped in, and a stapler. Done. 

Hang around the backyard, waiting for the baby to wake up from her nap. Take silly pictures with your new camera remote. Don't delete them - you will look back one day and think, "Damn, I looked good!" Or not (?)

Go to the park. Use your basket to hold a bunch of things that your little one wants to collect. Use the opportunity to talk about different colours, textures, where the leaves/flowers/pinecones/nuts came from. Talk about size and smells. Let them pick up dumb stuff that makes no sense to you. It doesn't matter. 

Don't forget to snap a pic of the patient and cute baby. She's growing so fast! (but somedays slow ... change your own nappy already okay?)

Go home and have lunch and a nap. Then, when she wakes up all grumpy, remind her of her treasures. Use any glue you have, or just sticky tape and get those things stuck down on a piece of paper. While the crafter in me wanted to hot glue gun it, we went ghetto fabulous and just used sticky tape. Good news: two year olds like that better.

Make a big fuss about the beautiful (or not) result, even though you know it's going in the bin after a few days. They love it! Take a photo! Send it to Grandma! Put it up in a special place. Cultivate pride in their work, and a love for art. Just look at that face. Precious memory.