Rainy Days

[jayali]

So all of you Northeast mommies probably feel my pain.

We live at the Jersey Shore where it has been raining for the past 3 days and looks like will continue through the weekend. So I am looking for suggestions for indoor activities, both home and out. DS is 17 months old and we have played with every toy, plastic cup, plastic spoon, pot and tupperware in the house. Plus we have been through most of his books, oh about 5 times each! Even he is getting tired of them! And lucky me I have the ONLY 17 month old boy who has no interest in TV!

Help.

[mudder17]

Do you know other mommies with kids? We've been doing playdates at each other's houses, even for an hour or two, just to give our kids some new toys and playmates to play with. Yes, we do have to go out into the rain for a short while, but then we get to spend time with other kids. We've also been to the library for story/play time, and while we haven't done it yet, there is an indoor play center at the mall.

Kaya does like watching signing times, but I only allow one volume per day, so that's only about 30 minutes. So I find I have to distract her occasionally with other things. Like you, we try to play with her toys together (blocks work sometimes), read books together, then this morning, when I was trying to get stuff ready and she wanted company, I strapped her to my back and she had fun watching me as I prepared food, cleaned up, etc. I'll also turn on music so that we can dance together.

Our local petsmart has pet adoption day every Saturday, so maybe you can take him there to see the cats and dogs? Kaya loves doing that.

I'll edit if I think of other things. Good luck! I know your pain!

Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/candle.gif for Leah
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_4_Kaya+is.png
Kaya's a cousin! 10/1/05, 5lb13oz

[JFC]

I feel your pain. Today is our first sunny day in a week (we are in NC, so maybe it'll make it way to NJ tomorrow??).

The only things that saved us were play-doh, decorating pumpkins and going to the book store to play with the train set there. We also played a lot of silly games - like "tickle tackle" - just major major tickling really as nothing works better to cheer us all up than DS laughing hysterically and "chase mommy around the house" - I was out of breath before he was! Anyway, hopefully you can find something "new" to do to freshen up the days until the rain stops! And remember, it will stop! ;-)

[mom2aidan]

I'm also from NJ and I can't wait for this rain to stop. Today, I took my 17 month old DS to his Tumble Jam class which is only 2 minutes away from our house. He had a great time, as always. When he wakes up from his nap, we'll do books, puzzles, and go through every toy he has. I also have a playhut which I'll set up and he likes to hide there. I place pillows and some toys inside the playhut. We play peek-a-boo while he's in there. And pretty much we just run around the house. :-) He also doesn't watch much TV except for his baby einstein dvd which he gets later in the afternoon, when I can really use a break.
Tomorrow, if it's still raining, I may take him to Short Hills mall which has covered parking garage so I don't have to worry about getting him wet. My DS just loves being out and I don't think he'd really care if it's the mall as long as he's not inside the house all day.

[Marisa6826]

I'm in Northern NJ and have been stuck in with the rain, too. Jamie posted www.magicalchildhood.com the other day. Lots of good suggestions there.
You can also do the good old macaroni art, or playdoh, or beans in a can to shake.

What about going to a mall or the Camden Aquarium? I don't know how far south you are, but I think that the Woodbridge mall may have a Lego store with a play area. If you're up for the ride, there's Jersey Gardens and Ikea in Elizabeth right off the Turnpike. Great places to kill a few hours and the food at Ikea is super cheap and kid friendly.



-m

[jayali]

I have to look into the Lego store. Matthew would LOVE it. We were up at Short Hills on Tuesday and he just loved being in the Mall (and so did I). We live at the Shore, so no good Malls close by but Woodbridge is not far. I am not familiar with the Mall set up, but will definitely check it out - THANKS!

[Toba]

We also live at the Jersey Shore and braved the mall this evening in the DOWNPOUR. Yuck! We also went to our regular Kindermusik class this morning in the hard rain. Today was the first day we've been out in awhile though. I hate it when it's like this. The annual Cranberry Festival (we haven't missed one yet) is this weekend and Saturday it's supposed to be relatively nice, but there is going to be a TON of mud. :( We were supposed to do pumpkin picking after that as well, so I'm not sure how that is all going to play out.


~Kimberly Anne~
Noah Nevan, March 12, 2004
*the light of my life*

[barbarhow]

It's been torture, hasn't it? We went to the Y today to go swimming but the lifeguard quit so the pool was closed. :-( They have candlepin bowling there so we spent over an hour doing that. Jack was enthralled by it. We then went to the local farmstand and got pumpkins, talked to the horses, climbed on the John Deere tractor and talked to the cows. We came home and played with playdough (I am so sick of playdough after the last 10 days of rain). Took a nap-got up played with more playdough. Read books. Played with more playdough. More playdough and more playdough. I hate playdough. Or I should say I always have. The smell is just awful-although it doesn't seem to smell as much as it did when we were kids. I am trying to embrace it because Jack loves it. Hopefully the sun will come out soon so we can go out and play tball for hours on end and hit golfballs around the yard. NO MORE PLAYDOUGH, please!!!!
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03, a Red Sox fan
and Anna 5/12/05, my little Yankee fan!

[TraciG]

I'm in NY, so TIRED of the rain, we've been couch potatoes , only getting out the last 2 night at DH relatives ( for once I didn't mind that too much !!!!!!!!!! ) Sydney LOVES TV she watches, we play, coloring, books music TV over & over but too much TV, hardly any exercise in our little apt, I MISS the park & i'm sure Sydney does also !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marisa6826]

Jeannine-

I'm all of ten minutes from Short Hills. If you decide to take the trip again, please let me know. We'd love to come meet for lunch!

-m

[new_mommy25]

I found an awesome book at the library the other day. http://tinyurl.com/canrm It's full of good ideas and has a lot of activities similar to the magicalchildhood website.

[jennifer_r]

I'm at my breaking point with the rain. DD doesn't seem to mind - she'll climb stairs all day if she could. But when the highlight of my week is my OB/GYN appointment (an internal to boot), that is pretty sad. So, after my DD wakes up from her nap, off to the Short Hills Mall for a mommy trip!

Jennifer

Mom to:
Christopher 12/29/89
Adelaide 8/23/04
And another DD arriving end of October!