Life is a Highway

One boring Thursday morning, Sam and I were looking for something to do. Since he wakes up uber early, mornings are long, even when we have a scheduled playdate at 9 AM. We've got  nearly four hours to fill between the time he awakens and the time we leave. (Why yes he does wake up at 5 AM every day. And no, we haven't been able to change that schedule since the day he was born.)

Sam loves playing cars more than just about anything else. Playing cars can include the cars talking to each other, fixing each other, smashing each other, and racing along the floor/wall/couch/whatever surface is handy. Playing cars usually involves crawling all over the house, something that I don't particularly like to do after about ten minutes. So in an attempt to keep Sam entertained while also sparing my knees a bit, I dug out two rolls of masking tape and did this to our floor: 

That's right! We made our own city! Pictured here is the Municipal Garage (far background); the lake, with boat; the Fire House (far right); the City Park, which is undergoing some renovations; and a small cul-de-sac for the cars' houses. In the video below you'll also see the Barn, aka Addie's Country House/Amish Market and then by the steps you will see a recently demolished version of Addie's City House. (More about Sam's passionate love for Addie in another post; suffice it to say that he will do anything for her. I don't know whether to think it's cute or to be scared.)

That road stayed on our floor for a good two weeks until it slowly started peeling off. Sam had a tremendous amount of fun with it and so did Jeff and I. My only regret is that one of my rolls of masking tape was VERY old and left it's sticky stuff on the floor. So now part of the road remains as a dark stain on the carpet. Good thing we're planning to replace it eventually!

I'd love to take credit for this idea and say it was all mine but in truth, I found a version of it on Pinterest. Ours was bigger and more elaborate but the original idea was someone else's. And if you haven't gotten on Pinterest, DO IT. Well, only do it if you have gobs of free time...otherwise you'll be losing some sleep looking at all the pretty pictures and good ideas.

(Please pardon the fact that my son is dressed only in a tee shirt and underwear. Potty training proceeds hence.)