Off Topic Saturday

I doubt I will actually keep a day of the week for off-topic posts, but this family activity is so awesome I had to share!

http://www.education.com/activity/article/set-giant-building-blocks/

We just had a big move (see last post), so those boxes will be easy to come by for us! I may use ads / newspaper in place of construction paper, since several of our boxes will be VERY giant. ;)

Will update with pictures once we've constructed something!

P.S. This comes from a list of awesome activities, crafts, and games to play with your child during "Screen-Free Week," which is officially April 18-24. There are a lot of great ideas, so if I get a lot of interest, I'll post that link as well.

Education.com has a lot of great resources for all kinds of parenting ages / topics.

Keeping Up

Although the posting has been a bit infrequent, we have been doing (surprisingly) well without TV! For the next 2-3 days after the last post I stuck with the single 30 minute episodes of “Sesame Street” while we were getting ready in the mornings before school / playgroup.

I was really worried about weekends, since I work at a locally owned real estate brokerage and Aaron watches Connor all day, but they also stuck to my resolutions! It was actually with his father that Connor had a full day without television! I should actually give more credit where credit is due—Aaron stepped up in a big way when I first explained my resolution regarding TV / media and trying to limit it in Connor’s world. He began playing much more actively with Connor while I made dinner every night, offered activities and got him playing on his own in his room with train tracks, toy cars, stuffed animal worlds, etc. I could not have had as much success if it weren’t for Aaron being completely on board with wanting to reduce Connor’s time in front of the TV and computer.

Today in particular was a success for me, because I also didn’t resort to putting “Sesame Street” or any other show on in front of Connor so I could get things done. We watched NO TV today! I still picked up the master bedroom, got us both ready for a playdate, did a load of laundry, made dinner, and blogged while Connor PLAYED.

I think a big surprise for me in keeping this goal was Connor’s insistence on TV. When we weaned him off a bottle, got him sleeping in his own bed, and other milestones of babyhood, the longest he asked for something was 3 days. It has been weeks with the reduced TV schedule, and he will still randomly ask for a show throughout the day.

Connor is a very active boy—preschool teachers, other parents in co-op, and everyone we come into contact with lets me know this very frequently, so I imagine this is a factor in his desire for the boob tube. His mind and body are so active; he needs something to stimulate him most of the day.

The pictures from this blog have occurred over the last 2 weeks. I probably will go into depth on each activity later this week.

Enjoy!