Oh the weather outside is frightful…

…but inside it’s not delightful!  What the hell am I going to do all winter?  I need free child activity ideas and I need them badly.

Local meteorologists have promised a 33% colder winter than last (although their accuracy average leaves me with sincere enough doubts that I would not be surprised in the slightest if it turned out to be downright tropical).  National meteorologists are saying practically the same.

Now, three year olds need lots of stimulation in order to be tired enough to take that precious afternoon nap that begets a shaft of sanity sunlight to a parent’s life.  But even if I enrolled Ava in 3 or so weekly programs, that only gives us 5 or 6 hours of entertainment for the week.  What to do, oh what to do?

Thank goodness we have the fortune of living in a government-centric city where most museums are free.  This morning we spent 3.5 hours roaming the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum.  It was terrific to be out of the house, feeling like I was advancing my child’s understanding of the world, and even learning a little something myself.  Ava ran her little legs (and mouth) like the Roadrunner and touched everything in sight – we even found a discovery room where everything is hands-on and learning-oriented.  But mortification snapped me out of my reverie spent coloring a psychedelicly colorful bird, as Ava was busy making sweet music by knocking an alligator and a cat skull together.  She agrees that learning is fun!

If you have kids – what do you do for fun when the weather is rotten?  Those skulls can only take so much crackin’…the museum’s that is, not our childrens’.