Boredom

A confluence of things seems to have led to a tidal wave of boredom in our home lately. Most of this revolves around Carver. First, as I have noted for the past year or so, he has been transitioning away from naps. Apparently what that means is that he needs a nap every day around 11 or 12, but he fights it. Second, the bitter cold weather we’ve endured for the last couple of weeks has made it painful to go outside, and leaves us with few places to go that are any fun. Lastly, the kids have been obsessed with a Wii game for a few weeks now. 

The struggle is that Carver gets tired, and rather than having the insight to understand that he could solve his disequilibrium with rest, he tries to fill the void with entertainment in the form of couch potatoism. He’ll whine and mope that he wants to play the game, and we encourage him to have a rest or play with his many toys. The debate goes on and on. 

Finally yesterday, we discovered something that sparked his interest. It was in the 40s outside (quite cozy compared to the last several days), and he had just received a new toy dinosaur from his Nana earlier in the week. I suggested that he take his dinosaurs outside and pretend they were in prehistoric times. By the look on his face, I could tell that he was considering it, but not yet sold. I added, “Maybe you could even take Batman with you to ride the dinosaurs.” That did it. 

He was finally able to entertain himself for a good long while without the use of a screen! Maybe we can start to do that more often.

Luckily, an activity that Avey and Carver are willing to play at any time is baseball. We head down to our wide open basement and I pitch a plush ball to them, at which they swing with a plush bat we got for Carver at his last birthday. They’d play that most of the time if Kira or I could be on call to pitch to them.

The other day, I was playing with them. Carver was at the plate, ready with the bat. I wound up to pitch, when Carver realized that he’d forgotten something vital. He stopped me before I could release the ball, and said, “Hold on, Dad. I have to get ready.” I paused, and watched, curious. He bent over and hit the floor with the little stuffed bat a couple of times, then he stood back up, and put the bat at the ready. He said, “That’s how they get ready.”

We are doing well otherwise. Hakan stayed in his bed once or twice this week, and he and I are nearly over our colds. Kira and I are very close to settling on a name for Baby Boy. Perhaps I will post it next week!

#Happenings #LittleGems