Thirty-One Days with a Two-Year-Old

Since my husband and I are both graduate students, our lives revolve around semesters and the academic calendar. We were fortunate to have very flexible schedules during the two years immediately following our daughter's birth - we were able to arrange things such that we would alternate days (or even half-days) that we would go into school for teaching, classes, and work.

This year, however, my husband is teaching four days a week at a college an hour-and-a-half drive away from us, leaving Piper-girl and me to fend for ourselves until he gets home around or after supper time. It has required a BIG ADJUSTMENT. The adjustment period that been filled with temper tantrums - some of which have even been the toddler's! We're five weeks into the semester and Piper-girl and I are still figuring out how to make this work for us.

I'm using The Nester's 31 Days series as an opportunity to discover activities that will keep Piper-girl entertained (and hopefully wear her out!) without having two parents at home every day. This page will be my table of contents for my 31 Days with a Two-Year-Old series. Check back here every day in October for a link to the newest post.

Day 1: Take a walk
Day 2: Library Story Time
Day 3: Playground
Day 4: Play with Dough
Day 5: Farmers' Market
Day 6: Fall Fairs
Day 7: ZooBorns!
Day 8: Playing in the Garden
Day 9: Her First Food Mill Experience
Day 10: Play Group
Day 11: Sleep is for the Weak
Day 12: Grandparents!
Day 13: Apple Picking
Day 14: Picnic
Day 15: Rice, Everywhere
Day 16: I love you, too
Day 17: Playing in Leaves
Day 18: Cookie Monster (Oo-Oo Monh-monh)
Day 19: Baking Cookies
Day 20: Hot Chocolate
Day 21: Birthday Cookies
Day 22: Play Dough
Day 23: Sick Toddler
Day 24: Gardening
Day 31: The End

Encounter at Chaos Station

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Twenty-six years ago today, one of the best television shows ever aired its first episode. My formative years were spent watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. Which, come to think of it, has given me a rather warped view of what is normal - you mean not every child grows up watching Star Trek? Not every preschooler knows that the proper way to greet someone is by saying, "Live long and prosper"?

The Enterprise mission is my mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. These are my logs.