Culture shot: April showers bring kiddie cabin fever

Rain, rain go away, mommy might go crazy today.

After spending a couple of cooped up soggy days at home this weekend, I found myself actually enjoying the downtime for once. Cooking in, watching movies, and leisurely thumbing through my new mags between catnaps – it was like a mini vacation from my usual errands and cleaning frenzy.

I promise I’m not trying to gloat. And I realize that none of the above can be achieved with a toddler in the coop.

If the last movie you watched on a rainy day was Lady and the Tramp, and the only one in your house actually napping is the cat himself, I’m sure wet weekends can feel like anything but a break.

Entertaining a toddler on a beautiful day can be taxing enough. But trying to distract a whining 2 year old from wanting to go outside during a downpour can be downright mind-bending.

With a little imagination (and a lot of patience), there are plenty of creative indoor activities to pass the time until the playground dries off. I found a couple of fun ones online worth sharing:

• Build sheet forts and camp out indoors
• Turn the kitchen floor into an empty plastic bottle bowling alley
• Bake sugar cookies and decorate them with colored icing
• Make homemade play-doh
• Bathe washable dolls and toys in the tub
• Go on a flashlight safari hunt for teddy bears
• Finger paint on the shower walls
• Have an indoor picnic on the living room floor
• Make paper bag puppets and put on a show
• Water the house plants with bath squirt toys
• Create junky jewelry with rope, empty spools of thread, large tubular pasta, metal washers, and paper towel rolls cut into rings

If all else fails, webcam Gramma and beg her to entertain.