When I had newborns, I dreaded the witching hour.  Nearly every child had one, it seems.  And they were almost always somewhere around 5-7pm.  And while the 6:15 bedtime helped cut it short, there was still often a somewhat unpleasant time in the late afternoon and early evening.

And while nothing compares to the experience of two mysteriously screaming newborns, the witching hour has never really disappeared.  Obviously, it’s a time of day when parental patience is running low. and restless kids are getting antsy.  But at least, over the summer, we could just hit up a playground with some friends and the next thing we knew, it was time to go home for dinner and bed.

Screw you, November.  And your little time change, too.

While I’m glad that my kids are fairly consistently napping until 3-3:30pm, that means that we often can’t get ourselves out the door until nearly 4. What time was sunset today? 4:19pm.

Aside from the occasional playgroups (which are lifesavers), afternoons kind of blow these days.  Not enough daylight (or warmth) to hit the park.  Barely enough time some days to even run an errand and get back at a reasonable hour to make dinner.  An excursion to Starbucks for snacktime gets expensive and loses its novelty if we go too often. So we end up futzing around inside.  The kids get on each other’s nerves and fight, they get on my nerves and I yell.  We end up relying on a bit more TV than I’d like.  It’s the toddler version of the witching hour.

What we need are good in-the-house activities to carry us through the dark winter months.  Baking is my go-to activity, but I can only make so many batches of muffins and cookies in a week (and my weight-loss efforts do not approve).  So, moms of the world, do you have any good suggestions for two-year-old activities that are relatively easy to do at home?  I have a drop cloth and am asking for smocks for the holidays, so I don’t mind a little mess.  Arts & crafts? Sensory stuff?  It doesn’t have to take up the entire 2-3 hours between naptime and dinner, but a solid 15-30 minutes of interest would sure break up the day.

The biggest hit at the moment is one of my personal favorites from childhood – making a fort out of the couch cushions and a quilt.  Daniel requests it all day, every day.  It’s entertaining, and the couch is already pretty well trashed, so I’m not worried about doing further damage.  But, I fear, this will get old, too.  Help me shake it up, people!