So the kids have spring break this week.  Spring break is something I look forward to with equal parts relief and dread.  On the one hand, it’s lovely to have a week with no schedules, no places we have to be, no times we have to be up and about, no school lunches to pack or homework to be done.  On the other hand, what am I going to do to keep the kids happy and entertained all week?  Boredom leads to grumpy, testy, bickering, unpleasant children (and Mom), and a forecast of rain for the week threatened to make this “break” anything but.

By day 1, Mr. T was already bored to tears.  While the girls busied themselves making a new sign for their bedroom door, Mr. T did this:

I was glad to see him channel some creative energy, and he was quite pleased with himself when he was all done.  Of course, when the oohs and ahhs and picture taking were over he was back to being bored.

It’s now Day 3.  Mr. T is sick and the girls are taking advantage of a brief appearance of the sun.  I can hear them screaming and running around outside.  Aren’t those the loveliest sounds?  The sounds of happy, carefree youth, the sounds of unbridled joy and delight, the sounds that come from outside the house.

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A couple of months ago I had gotten out the phone book for some reason or other and BigHugs took to carrying it around and leafing through its pages.  I could not understand what the appeal was, but she was happy so hey, whatever.  I put it away a day or two later and she moved on to the next thing, which happened to be Mr. T’s boy scout handbook.  O-kay.  Well the other day she walked over to the closed pantry and I thought maybe she was looking for a snack, but she asked for the phone book.  I got it down for her and she was just so excited.  It was like Christmas morning.

I tried to discover the source of her affection for Dex.

Mom:  Why do you like the phone book so much, BigHugs?

BigHugs:  I love the phone book because it’s a big square.

Mom:  Ohhh.

BigHugs:  I love reading the phone book, Mom.

Mom:  You’re reading the phone book?

BigHugs:  I want to read the alphabet.  Look at all these pages.  The pages are all smart.

I noticed she paused in the yellow pages section at an ad for Les Schwab tires.  She plopped down on her tummy, propped herself up with her elbows, rested her chin in her hands and gazed at Les for a good 2 minutes before continuing her perusal.  She was quite distressed when one of the pages ripped as she flipped it over.

BigHugs:  This page is broken.  We need to fix the phone book.  We need some sticky tape to fix it.

Sticky tape a la Dora the Explorer.

I put the phone book away for now, but I’m thinking I have a good idea of what to wrap up for her 3rd birthday in a few months.