Entertaining sick toddlers

As if entertaining toddlers isn't challenging enough, can you imagine trying to keep a sick and grouchy toddler who is at home on medical leave entertained? This is assuming he is well enough to be up and about, but not all THAT well to be sent back to school. This means you can't technically keep him at home the whole day, but you can't bring him to the mall either to avoid infecting other people.

Every time Kai falls sick, my nerves will be frazzled by the end of the day from all the:

- pleading ("Please take your medicine.")

- screaming ("NO, you can't have another ice cream!")

- pleasing ("Ok, ok, I'll fix your tracks after I finish feeding Kit.")

- fetching ("You need water? Fruits? What kind of fruits?")

- pacifying ("We don't have strawberries? How about grapes? No. We don't have bananas. Apple? No. I can't go out and buy a banana now. Stop throwing a tantrum!")

This doesn't even include the other things one normally has to do for the baby in a single day.

So sometimes, it's just better for everybody to get out of the house for a little while. Even if it's just for a walk downstairs. So I hauled both boys down to the playground during one of Kai's recent flu episodes. Everyone was happy until it started to drizzle, heavily. Imagine the cries, the screams, and the threats that ensued when it seemed like the outing might have to be aborted.

Lucky enough, there was a little pavilion by the pool. Kai played with his trains on the bench while Kit ate his baby bickies and watched his older brother.

Both boys went home happy. And I now have another item to add under my how-to-entertain-toddlers list. But whether it means I would be less frazzled at the end Kai's sick leave in the future? I'm not so sure...