The games we play

When Moe was a newborn, and I decided I would be a stay at home mom, I don't think I realized just how much I'd be actually staying at home. I pictured shopping, lunches out, and on the days I did stay home I would make elaborate dinners, keep a clean home and get so much done. Done laughing yet? Being at home with a baby really means your life is a paradox of long boring days but no time to do anything.

And although it is really amazing to watch your child discover what it means to stack blocks and knock them down over and over, it isn't exactly rocket science for you. So I would make up little games for myself. For example, Moe has a set of alphabet blocks. They are wood, and in addition to letters, they have animals and numbers on them. I would put all of the blocks out and then challenge myself to be able to use all of the blocks to make words. Sometimes I'd play Scrabble style or Boggle style.

Those newborn days are behind me, and with Moe at school,  it is relatively easy to get Jelly in the car and leave the house. I have plenty to do, including write this blog, during her nap time, so I haven't had to make up any little games for myself for a while. But yesterday, I found myself needing to find a way to pass the time.

One of the things we've done to help Moe be more regulated and sleep better is move his bath to earlier in the day. So between 3-4pm, Moe gets a bath. This isn't a scrub, rinse and go variety bath either. Moe gets to stay in almost as long as he wants, sometimes requiring a water warm-up, and always involving a lot of splashing. For safety, I have to sit right by him of course, but once his hair is washed I don't have many other responsibilities. I can't bring in my iPhone because of the high splash factor. So yesterday I invented a new game.

We have some foam letters and numbers for the bath. When wet, they stick to the walls and the side of the tub. Yesterday, I discovered that if you fling the letters at just the right angle, you can get them to stick from across the tub. I got pretty good, though it is fairly challenging. My record is still only 3 in a row. Anyone care to challenge me?