It’s day four of our tv-free child experiment. I decided it was probably time to update you on how that’s going so far!

A large amount of desperation, err… inspiration behind our decision to make this lifestyle adjustment was that Xander has not been sleeping well. At all. Hence, mommy and daddy are also not sleeping well. At all. For those of you who do not have children, I am sure you have heard from your parent friends multiple times just how much your wee bairn will affect your quality of sleep.

Survey says? A lot. A lot, a lot. It’s hard to define for someone who hasn’t gone through it, but just be prepared, at times, to operate solely on the miracle that is caffeine, and prayer. Lots of both, probably. Now along with that sleeplessness, add about 75% more responsibility to your day than you currently have, and you’ve pretty much got early parenthood life nailed down. I do realize that there are children in the world who have no sleep troubles, and to be honest, mine is usually one of them, at least now that he’s a toddler/preschooler.

Which is precisely why any interruption to this phenomenon makes me extra crabby. Mama bear likes her sleep.

I digress. At any rate, you can see that while our motivation may not have been entirely selfless, it wasn’t completely selfish either. We didn’t want him overstimulated before bedtime, no. However, we also wanted to force ourselves out of our routine and relearn how to play with him, to spend intimate one on one or two on one time with him, and to increase his activity and learning levels at least threefold.

After dinner on Tuesday evening, the husband and I took Xander to a local elementary school to let him climb on the play yard equipment, and run around in the grassy areas. My hubby is extremely overprotective of the little squirt, and rarely lets him roam, instead electing to keep him by the hand. The wiggles stored up in this kid were legendary. He went down slides. He climbed this super scary curved ladder thing that makes me both proud and keeps me on the edge of a heart attack, all at once. He played with the outdoor musical instruments. But mostly? He just wanted to run. This nearly gave my husband hives, but I said to let him go.

Of course that first night he had to do a face plant, so comical in it’s exaggeration that we barely had time to feel bad about it. Little dude’s limbs just flung out in all four possible directions and there he was, face down on the concrete. Yes, of course it was on the concrete, hello. Who falls in the nice soft grass, or on the rubber mats beneath the play yards? Oh no, we go big, we go all the way. He just stood up and kept running, not phased for a minute.

On Wednesday, we went back to the same play area, but were chagrined by a group of rowdy older kids, trying to out do one another with their four-letter-word vocabulary. Impressive. We still stuck around for an hour, and other than another face plant (concrete, of course) that was not nearly as well received as the last (tears, hugs needed, kisses implemented), it was another great evening.

Last night the weather, and my attitude, were not great at all. We elected to stay home, and got out some of Xander’s toys. I learned two things last night:

1. My son has the patience and fortitude of… well, of a two and a half year old.
2. We really need to replace the broken train track hand-me-downs, as they do not go together well, or stay together well. (See point number one.)

Every time the train track comes apart, or the train cars get stuck on the tracks, my son has a mini-meltdown. Unless you have a really expensive and nicely constructed train set, which we do not, these things are going to happen repeatedly, and often. Especially if some of your tracks are broken and chipped, and some are missing the little plastic joining pieces.

“Mama, HELP! HEEEEEEELP!” (I wish you could hear the way he pronounces “help.” It’s so cute! The first time.) Finally I couldn’t take the stress and miniature panic attacks anymore, and after many threats that I would put away the set if he didn’t calm down… I put away the set.

Meltdown… no longer mini.

It was bed time, indeed. It took an hour to get him to bed, which fell to my darling husband, as I flew the coop for a brisk walk out of doors. But guess what? He slept in until 8:00 AM!!!

(Cue the angels singing a hallelujah chorus, clouds part, beams of light shining down.)

I’m not sure what tonight will bring, but whatever it is, I embrace it and look forward to it. An unplanned benefit of all this has been an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that had been missing in my life for a little while now. I believe that TV drains the life and creativity right out of you, while engaging in other pursuits can breathe life back in.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend! Cheers!