1- I put on some music on the TV (cable channels that just play music- no video) and danced around with the kids.

2- Filled up bathtub with bubbles and showed toddler how to blow bubbles using a straw. (This will backfire when he has juice/milk next..)

3- When loading the washing machine we played “laundry basketball”. The baby helped despite her desire to eat dirty socks.

4-When loading the drier it became a relay race where I handed my 2.5 year old each piece of clothing and cheered him on while he ran over to the drier and threw it in. We named the colors. Note to self: We have too much black clothing and not enough colorful clothing.

5- When making the bed I pulled off all the blankets and flipped the sheet into the air letting it come to rest on the heads of the baby and 2.5 year old. Repeatedly. For 15 minutes. While they shrieked in laughter.

6- Diaper changes = FLYYYYYINGTODDLER! and FLYYYINGBABY! After diaper changes = Piggyback rides to our bed, and being “thrown” onto the bed. (Obviously the throwing of the 10 month old is more like swing swing swing ::put down:: whereas the throwing of the 2.5 year old is more akin to throwing.)

7- Toenail and fingernail clipping accompanied by “This little piggy” followed by tickle-tackles.

8- Toddler-led crafting. Alexander-in-the-middle is obsessed with his big brother’s scissors and wants to use them all the time. So I gave him some old catalogs and construction paper and glue. He created a masterpiece consisting of lots of cut up pieces of stuff glued together in a big pile with puddles of glue and topped with bits of granola bar and copious amounts of cat hair that he found in a tumbleweed in the hallway.

Lunch time!

9- Pretended to be a fishandrice eating monster that wanted every bite of the fish and rice and blew on it to cool it off, but Alexander stole all the bites! Oh no!

10- chased Alexander around down stairs to the tune of two different “toddler tunes”. Anne-Marie likes to be carried while we chase, and shrieked joyful chasey shrieks. When the tune changed I froze like a deer in the headlights, then changed how I was chasing him.

11- Peed on space monsters in the little potty while wearing a stealth squadron helmet. (He did. I did not. My butt would get stuck on the little potty and my head would get stuck in the helmet. I use the big potty, as is properly dignified. I do still pee on space monsters though. You know. As a good example.

12- Worked on putting together Lego men from a bucket of heads, bodies, hair, helmets and other accessories in a bucket. Technically this is not me “being playful”. Technically this is me handing him a bucket and a tray and me laying down and nursing the baby and reading stuff on the computer between making comments about the awesome Lego guys and girls that he’s making. It’s awesome for the hand-eye coordination stuff and the fine motor skills.. And for me being able to lay down for a while.

13- Wrestled with the 2.5 year old on the bed once the 10mo woke up. He likes rough play. Got kicked in the face a few times and decided it was time to get dressed to go outsiiiiiide!

::Editing this as the day progresses::