Cabin Fever

I know, I know ... I just wrote a post last week about how cheerfully we were surviving the winter, but I may have been premature in my confidence about our ability to survive a Buffalo winter. Cabin fever struck the Campbell household big time this past weekend, and we're trying to figure out the best remedy before we lose our minds!

It's been coming on bit by bit, but this past weekend it was really evident that the boys have a major case of the crazies. They're bouncing around the apartment, playing too roughly, and generally sounding like a small herd of elephants. We try to corrall them into their room and playroom when they get too wild, but then they just end up causing trouble in there. On Saturday, for example, they were playing in their room when all of a sudden we heard very loud thumping sounds and we caught Jack using Peter's crib as a trampoline!

I thought I've been doing a good job about getting them out of the house for walks, playing in the snow, field trips, etc. but I think what they really need is to be able to run around and burn off energy. Walks are OK, but some of the sidewalks are crusted up with chunks of ice (which makes using a stroller difficult), and if we go at Peter's pace then the boys don't use up nearly enough energy. We've gone on a couple of outings to the science museum, which is a lot of fun (and it even has an indoor play area), but once again, the no running allowed thing really doesn't let them burn off steam. We have a lovely grassy area in our apartment complex, but even with the warmer temperatures recently (30s), the snow and ice is deep enough that running around out there just doesn't work so well. Jack can manage OK, but Thomas and Peter's shorter legs make them miserable pretty fast. And, to be honest, many times the weather is cold enough or windy enough that none of us really want to be out there anyway. It's great playing in fresh snow, but when the snow is gray and slushy, and there's an icy wind, it's not nearly as much fun.

So, the boys are spending more time in the house than they would like, and they can't really burn off energy in the house because any physical activity quickly escalates to lots of thumping and bouncing. They're frustrated, we're frustrated, and it seems like everyone's attitude has been suffering.

Last night David and I both came up with ways to improve behavior. David's incentive plan for the boys is that after 5 days of good attitudes and behavior, they'll get to go on a date with just David to do something fun. I think this is a great idea!

My idea was to turn our garage into a play space. We usually park our van in our one-car garage, but I'm going to try parking our car in our driveway (except for super snowy days) so the boys have an empty space (with no neighbors under it!) to bounce, jump, run around in circles, etc. a couple of times a day. I picked up some kid jump ropes, one of those bop bag things that you punch and it pops right back up, some sidewalk chalk, and a bouncing ball. We had fun this morning in our "basement" as the boys call it, although they got really impatient with learning how to jump rope. This afternoon, I think I'll take one of our portable speakers down there so we can have a dance party. The boys love dancing, but when they do their dance moves upstairs (i.e. "the shopping cart", "the weed whacker", "the chainsaw"), it can get pretty boisterous!.

So, we shall see how our plans work. Prayers for patience, cheerfulness, and creative ways to burn off 3 little boys' energy would be appreciated! People around here keep telling us that everyone gets really squirrely in February because it's been cold, dark, and gloomy for too long. I think the boys are starting a couple of weeks early -- ack! Here's hoping that the groundhog doesn't see his shadow!