Thursday, December 14, 2006

Suggestions?? and Top 100 Baby Names from BabyCenter.com

Anyone out there have any suggestions for keeping a 2 year old occupied from around 4 pm till 10 pm without watching too much TV? Keep in mind, I am 5 months pregnant, I teach middle school choir/general music FULL time to 180+ students at a Title I school which means meetings and paperwork, I am trying to work on a graduate class, my husband works M-F, 3;45 pm-11ish, and I am just plain tired!! Most nights I don't start school work (my own or the planning/grading of my MS students) until at least 10:30 PM. I am rarely in bed before midnight, but don't have to wake up till 7 am, unless Bekah gets up in the night or I have an early meeting. I am struggling to play with her and keep her occupied because I am soooo tired. She love Dora and Diego and will do other things while she watches, but she always wants it on. Please, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
On a side note, in my e-mail from BabyCenter.com this week, it listed the top 100 baby names of 2006. Rebekah will probably never make it because of the spelling, but Sarah was #12 this year. I have added the top 20 for your enjoyment.

1 Emma
2 Madison
3 Ava
4 Emily
5 Isabella
6 Kaitlyn
7 Sophia
8 Olivia
9 Abigail
10Hailey
11 Hannah
12 Sarah
13 Madeline
14 Lily
15 Ella
16 Alyssa
17 Riley
18 Chloe
19 Lauren
20 Grace

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does she do with arts and crafts? If you have a plastic tablecloth, you can spread it over your table and let her go to town (on the table, of course) with crayons, markers, paint, etc. Or she could play with play-doh or clay. Then at least you can be seated with her doing something that doesn't require an incredible amount of effort on your part. Good luck!

Chris said...

I agree with Michelle's ideas! Alex loves paint with water books, play-doh and the Crayola Color Wonder books and markers. He also likes to read.

Thankfully I'm not teaching during this pregnancy. I'm not sure I could do it! Thankfully Alex isn't napping much at daycare so he's ready to go to bed when I am at night.

Gene and Annie said...

It can be hard to keep a two year entertained!! One of the best things I did was have Dax!! (and you are well on you way to your second little one too) They really help keep each other entertained! Even when Dax was small, she would help get things for him and was such a big helper. Now, that he is bigger, they will sit and play together for long periods of time! A sibling can help alot in this area and frees up time for mom!! Plus, remember her attention span will keep getting better and longer! Till then, try rotating toys (so they are new again) or artsy stuff like they mentioned above!

We will be in Ohio the 24th and 25th of Dec! Kind of a short trip but hopefully a fun one!

Heather and Scott Karl said...

Hi Paula & Bobby! I (this is Scott) don't have any suggestions about your 2 year old TV situation, but I just want to apologize for overlooking your blog. With all our IWU friends blogging, I sometimes forget to note some of the blogs. We are very glad to hear from you, and will be adding your blog to our links section.

Scott, Heather, & Seth