Let me tell you about my new favorite book of the century. Got it off paperbackswap.com (imagine that!) and it is changing the way we survive around here.

Things to Do With Toddlers and Twos by Karen Miller

Okay, so you probably won’t find this book in the Survival Skills section of any bookstore, but that is just poor, misguided oversight on the part of the merchandising department.

What this book is, is a series of very simple ideas that COMPLETELY SUCK A TODDLER IN AND CONSUME THEM FOR HOURS. The ideas are so simple, I would have never guessed they’d work. But wow! Do they ever.

For example, did you have ANY IDEA that a sponge is like the most fascinating thing in the universe for a two year old? A device that they might play with for ONE FULL HOUR? Or, for DAYS ON END?

It baffles the mind, I tell you.

Within a couple nights, I read through the whole (nicely organized, I might add) book and learned volumes about what’s going on in the noggin of that kid of mine. Then I spent another night going through the book again and choosing the activities that were readily accessible with things we already had around the house. I wrote out a wish list and stuck it on a box, so when we came across items for the chosen activities we could just toss them in.

When things get a little stir-crazy around here, I just pull an activity out of my magic box and we are good to go for the rest of the day. Can I even tell you how much I feel like Mary Poppins right now? I’ve got about 20 things to do in there. So even on rapid rotation, we are set for a good, long time. Do you hear my very loud sigh of relief? Sorry about your ears.

Here is Bastien, washing rocks.
Um, thank God for people who are smarter about toddlers than I!