Summer Survival: All Year Around

Never mind survival tips for moms with school-aged children. I’ve got kiddos all day, 365. Neither is headed off  to formal education for years. The idea of waiting for school to start is a ways off.

I recently commented to my husband how cool it would be (Get it? cool) to dive off the back deck and into a sparkling in-ground. He laughed. And since it was the exact laugh I give him when he asks if I ever think about homeschooling, I’m not holding out much hope for a visit from the pool company any time soon.

Besides, that’s what FWP (Friends With Pools) are for.

So, I went a cheaper route (we’re talking real cheap) and bought a big sprinkler ball. It took two adults and some major triceps work with a bike pump to blow up, but it got terrific reviews online and I’m looking forward to hooking it up to my preschooler my garden hose and watching the show.

Check back for a product review. If it lasts a week on my rocky lawn, I’ll be super thrilled.

More outdoor fun: sidewalk chalk! We draw shapes and figures and practice writing letters on the driveway and sidewalk while Little Man 1  practices telling me to draw planes, traines, and automobiles over and over and over again and Little Man 2 tries to eat the fat, colored pieces.  We’ve been having lots of fun with it while discovering how creative we can be. Then, on a recent trip to a big city, the older boy noticed some not-so-nice “sidewalk chalk” drawings on the side of a building.

Maybe allowing him to do it now…

Then, there are those days when it’s just too hot to hang outside. Thank goodness for educational videos, watercolor paints, homemade instruments, and a downstairs that allows us to play chase in a circle and forego the previously unwritten no-running-in-the-house rule. It’s just tons of fun to watch a three-year-old laugh hysterically while taking on his Mommy in a racing game while an 8-month old flaps his arms and grins each time we come into sight. We just have to be careful when rounding the corners on a floor with no carpet.

It’s all fun and games until someone smacks their head.

image credit: stock.xchng photo by itshears