Winter activities

How do you keep a 3 year old and 1 year old occupied in the winter? How do you help them burn off all their energy? Well, they sometimes make up their own ways to burn off energy. Matthew, for example, likes to throw a ball while standing next to a wall in the basement. He then runs after the ball, picks it up and throws it again. And chases it again. And repeats. All while wearing something on his head. Sometimes it's a hat, other times it's a small plastic toy tote (the toy totes are rarely filled with toys...usually they are being used as hats, lined up as pretend train cars, stacked up to use as a step stool...I'm sure there are other uses, but I can't remember them at this time), unfortunately times it's a plastic bag. Silly boy. Doesn't he read the warnings?

Both boys also like to run around. They sometimes are chasing each other (or being chased by Mom or Dad), other times they are just running in circles. This generally occurs in the evening for some odd reason, but they will simply run around the perimeter of the main level of the house. They will do this for at least 5 minutes, sometimes even more. They just run.

Other times they like to play bumpity-bump down the stairs. It goes like this. They run to the top of the stairs, then figure out various means of getting down the stairs. Matthew is a pro at the tummy slide. I wished I could have captured his sliding on video the other day as he was really cruising. It was amazing. Sam likes to go head first on his tummy. He doesn't go for speed, but rather for finesse and difficulty. Other times they sit on their bottoms and go "bumpity-bump" down each step.

Sometimes the boys need encouragement to get some exercise. So we play "hall ball". This is one of Jason's original games and involves a parent sitting at the landing at the bottom of the stairs. The children are usually at the top of the stairs. The kids throw a ball down the stairs, parent tries to catch it and throws it back. However,  I often "miss" and the ball rolls around to the main level, under the couch or somewhere else. The boys then need to go down the stairs, retrieve the ball, go back up the stairs and start the process over. And this process repeats. We have a lot of laughs and get some exercise too. And the kids go to bed before 8. Another day of winter done, one day closer to warmer weather and time outside.