The entire house is sick but the kiddo is a day ahead of her parents on the track to feeling better. She wasn’t quite well enough to go back to school today — so her parents had to reach into their bag of tricks to keep her occupied.

What was in our bag of tricks? Let’s look inside.

The Dora House

Dora’s Talking House is straight from the devil and needs to be destroyed.  Not really.  Elliot just really needs a sister to “talk Dora’s Mom” — but she isn’t going to get one.  The game goes on FOREVER and EVER. The thing is though — sometimes she plays it by herself but when I tell her “I don’t want to be DIEGO on the roof, why don’t you play it alone for a bit.” I get “I CAN’T!”.  Which is a lie — because she does it all the time – but she won’t believe me — so then I pretend to be Dora’s Dad and start to say inappropriate things about the “Stinky Monkey” just to amuse myself — and that makes Elliot mad and she insists that I say “The Right Things” but that is boring — and so the game usually ends. Or she gets her mom to do it.

[Insert Noun] Store

We played – Balloon Store, Book Store, Shoe Store, Sock Store — basically just gather a pile of anything and Elliot will try and sell it to you. Come back multiple times — ask her how much it costs and repeat. Bring a lot of money — prices vary from $1 to $40 per item without any rhyme or reason.

iPad Jukebox

Take an iPad, fill it with all her favorite songs, show her the music app and let her go DJ crazy. Hours of fun.

They Might Be Giants on YouTube

After listening to the ‘Alphabet of Nations’ song, Elliot wanted to get out her globe and find all the countries.  I wondered if there was a music video for this — and there was. In fact there were tons of great videos for all of their kid songs. We learned about the Sun, what E likes to eat, the many states of water,  about electric cars and that D is for Drums.

Super Polly Pockets

When you ask Elliot what she wants to be when she grows up — it’s a toss-up between acrobat and super hero.  So this Super Hero set is a lot of fun.  And now that she has the dexterity to put most of the clothes on and off by herself it is even more fun. And FYI – Wonder Woman DOES NOT HAVE AN INVISIBLE JET, DAD! — I just learned that yesterday.

Horton Hears a Who – 2008

Jim Carrey, Steve Carrell, Carol Burnett

Elliot is really digging the book right now and Common Sense Media gave this movie a 4+ rating so we fired up the Apple TV and gave it a viewing. Anna and I thought it was pretty cute, but Elliot didn’t like it because things were different from the book. Already she is a “The book was better” person.

It could also be that Vlad the Eagle is a little scary, but she keeps saying that Horton was different and the the Whos didn’t look the same. We’ll see if she likes it better on a second viewing — if we can get her to watch it again. Also — is this story a prequel to the ‘GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS’?  He terrorizes a Whoville too. [Amazon Link]

Finger Puppets

Elliot re-enacted most of the “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” story using three actual Rudolph puppets and a bunch of circus puppets.  The stage was her stuffed hippopotamus (Jack Bauer) from IKEA.  It was awesome.

Blue’s Clues

The show is from 1996 and is intended for younger kids — but Elliot loves it.  Steve is an idiot who lives in a cartoon house with his dog and a talking pepper shaker.  He sings whenever he gets the mail and is really good at drawing in his notebook.  There is also a special chair he sits in to think.  I am pretty sure that is the only place he is able to fully engage his brain because most of the show involves him asking the kids at home about things that any grown man should really know.  Really Steve? You don’t know what croutons are?  Really?

The rule about being sick is that there are no rules when it comes to watching TV — so live it up kiddo!  More Blue’s Clues? Sure — no problem!

Books. Lots and Lots of Books.

Tiny Titans, Horton Hears a Who, Madeline, Jamberry, etc. etc. etc…

Buy Sour Cream at Safeway

Elliot and I also went to Safeway to buy some sour cream.  We had fun — she sang a lot in the car.

Do Not Attempt:

Dance Parties and Indoor Hopscotch

There is simply too much bouncing for a sick parent to do this with the vigor required by an active 4 year-old.  Try to skip the game all together — for not playing at all is better than failing miserably or having to stop the game because you passed out and hit your head on the coffee table.

Good Luck!