Holding Down the Fort

I have to admit that being a mom -- a pregnant mom -- this summer has been kind of tough, especially as of late. It has been dreadfully hot and the mosquitoes are thick, which means we spend hardly any time playing outside in the yard, so if we are home Elsa inevitably starts begging to watch a television show. And, as the begging becomes more and more fierce, and as my imagination runs out of new, exciting things to do indoors, I inevitably cave. I still try not to let her watch a ton, but she is certainly watching more than she ever has in the past. And, since I am writing this and confessing, you can tell it bothers me just a little.

We do try to get out and take a field trip at least once a week, be it to the zoo, the botanical garden, the library, a walk, the park, whatever. And we have also been across the street at the pool quite often. But when we are home, it seems to be a constant rotation between reading books (which thankfully she still loves), playing with Legos, coloring, playing with trains, playing with Play-Doh, or playing with her toy kitchen. Occasionally we will cook something together or she will help me do some chore around the house, but the energy levels (at least in terms of myself) are running somewhat low these days.

Well, we both came down with colds yesterday afternoon, and Jarrett has been out of town the past few days on business, so I decided yesterday evening called for some serious creativity. Recently, memories have sprouted into my mind of fantastic forts my brother and I used to build as kids out of chairs and pillows and blankets, and what fun such simple elements brought to our day. So, I decided to build a fort for Elsa last night for the first time, and once she got the word "fort" down, she thought it was pretty wonderful. Seriously, what is more fun than a tent made for the indoors? Merckx even got in on the fun, getting about half of his body in there with us.