Acclimating

When we first landed in Florida, everything looked strange. Trees, flowers, and even the grass looks different. The birds flying around us are birds I've only seen in the zoo or in pictures. The weather is different. Even the air feels different.

We've been here about six weeks, and already I don't stop and stare at all the strangeness around me.

Have you heard that it's hot in Florida? It's hot. It's hot and humid and muggy and stifling and the sweat starts trickling down your back before you get to the car. But as long as the sun isn't out to burn our eyes with its glare, my four year old and says, "It feels pretty good out here."

I hear that the winters are lovely.

Boredom Jar

So we made it through a cold, icy Idaho winter stuck indoors most of the time. Just as it warmed up there, we moved to Florida--at the beginning of the time of year when it's too hot to play outside for long. It feels like another winter stuck indoors.

Today we went out to play before 8 a.m. We were instantly sweating and in under 20 minutes my girls were ready to go inside. So I brainstormed a list of things we could do when we're bored so we don't automatically turn on the TV when it's too hot to play outside.

Being a hands-on, get down on the floor, do crafts every day kind of mom doesn't come naturally to me. So this list helps me think of fun things to do with my kids even though I'm not naturally spontaneous.

Art:

Paint a Picture

Color

Draw

Playdough

Crafts

Make a Book

Make Bookmarks

Make Sock Puppets

Make Paper Airplanes

Indoors:

Bake Something

Read a Book

Write a Letter

Do a Puzzle

Dance Party

Watch Videos of the Girls

Look at Scrapbooks

Skype Someone

Read-a-Thon

Songs with Movements

Paint Toenails

Have a Bubble Bath

Exercise

Learning:

Learn Something New About Florida

Learn About an Animal

Learn Something About Nature

Play School

Learn a Letter

Learn a Number

Learn a Shape

Tell a Story about a Family Member

National Geographic Kids Online

PBS Kids.org

Outdoors:

Hopscotch

Hula Hoop

Jump Rope

Water Play Outside

Go on a Walk

Blow Bubbles

Sidewalk Chalk

Ride Bikes

Play:

Board Game

Card Game

Train Tracks

Instruments

Build with Legos

Dress Ups

Tea Party

Hide and Seek

Cleaning:

Wash Windows

Sweep & Mop

Vacuum

Dust

Outings:

Park

Splash Park

Zoo

Ice Cream

Hiking

Beach

Library

Visit a Friend

Summer Fun

If I don't make a summer bucket list, I feel like the summer comes and goes with few fun memories. Although the weather here in Florida will seem to us like summer year round, with my oldest starting preschool in August, our schedule-free days are numbered. Here's our list for this year:

Foodie: 
Homemade Popsicles
Homemade Lemonade
Roast Marshmallows over the BBQ
Grill a Pizza 
Ice Cream from the Place Shaped Like an Ice Cream Cone
Family Breakfast at Davis Bakery 
Try Avalon Pockets

Indoors:
Cloud Dough (8 c. flour to 1 c. baby oil)
Kool Aid Play Dough
Read a Chapter Book to the Girls
Make a Blanket Fort
Family Movie Night
Scholastic Summer Reading Program (our library's summer reading is only for ages 6 and up--boo)
Make Pool Noodle Light Sabers
Solar Paper Art Projects

Outdoors:
Soda Bottle Sprinkler 
Make a Rain Gauge
Stay Up Late and Look at the Stars
Ice Cube Painting (with Juice Cubes)
Learn to Do Hula Hoops
Dance in the Rain
Color Scavenger Hunt
Picnic in the Park
Splash Pad
Movie in the Park

Out and About:
Go to the Beach
Go Swimming
Go on a Family Bike Ride
Go to the Zoo
Farmer’s Market
Go on a Hike
Downtown Disney
Visit Tallahassee Friends
Daddy/Daughter Date
Mommy/Daughter Date

Homemade popsicles: check.

Splash pad: check.

Sand and Water

Child #1 could spend all day digging in the sand. Filling and dumping and refilling buckets. Making hills and mountains and castles of sand. But she doesn't care as much for the ocean. She got knocked over by a wave on our first visit, and I made her go back in for the second visit so she had some fun experience in the water and didn't think you could come to the ocean without at least dipping a toe in.

Child #2 loves the ocean. She would have run straight into it till she was carried away by a wave if we had let her. Born in water, she's been my water baby ever since. She was happiest waiting for the next wave to wash over her. She didn't like the sand much because she didn't want to get dirty. She kept trying to wipe off my toes buried in the sand. She eventually did dig in the sand. But before long she wanted to splash in the shallow waves of the ocean.

Our New Neighbors

These little guys scamper around our patio. I'm still getting used to them. They often startle me because something that size that moves that fast with a long tail makes me think it's a mouse. I've convinced my girls that the little lizards are cool and my toddler sticks her tongue in and out when she sees them. They're both scared if a sparrow lands in the path ten feet away, but they're fine with lizards. Go figure.

Lost in Motherhood

A recent conversation made me remember my pre-children, even pre-marriage college days. Back when I was known as a femi-nazi (though you truly don’t have to be radical to be called that in a conservative religious town). When I got passionate about issues. When I dabbled in vegetarianism (aka, I didn’t like to cook meat). When I wrote poetry. When I didn’t wear a bra for about six years (pregnancy put a damper on that at the time and breastfeeding has put a damper on it forever). I was, in small ways, my generation’s version of a hippie.

For a moment, I wondered what had happened to my past self. Where did she go? Did she, as I had feared, get swallowed up in the role of wife and mother? My sister reassured me that I won’t feel it as much once my children are older and no longer need so much of my time. But I also realized that the hippie college student has simply morphed into the hippie momma.

I had a natural waterbirth at home. I’m breastfeeding my toddler. My baby wears an amber teething necklace that absorbs into the skin and aids in pain relief (it always sounds weird when I explain it out loud, but I swear it’s helped her). I use cloth diapers. I co-sleep and wear my baby in a sling. I made homemade baby food. Neither of my children ever took a bottle or a pacifier (I am lucky in that I have not had to leave them to work much since I had them). A fun family weekend activity involves going to the Farmer’s Market. I blog.

I did not lose myself. I transformed into myself as a mom (with a little bit of my mom thrown in—this morning I watched The Price is Right with my daughter and sealed the deal on that one). I wish I had more time and energy for me. I wish I could do Yoga without a child climbing on my head. I wish I still wrote creative works that could be rejected by every journal I sent it in to. Right now I feel lucky if I get to shower every day. But my life will not always be like this and when the time comes, maybe I can rediscover some of my old self. Just with less anger, less bad poetry, and a lot more cleavage support.

Oranges

Dear Florida,

Why do all your stores sell California oranges? Aren't you supposed to be known for your oranges?

Sincerely,
Baffled New Resident