Before I had
kids, I knew what to do with the
extra hour that Fall Back
provides each October. I slept
in. I read the newspaper over a
mochachino at the corner
Starbucks. I took a long, hot
bath. I napped.
But now that I spend upwards of
14 hours a day taking care of
two little boys, an extra hour
is the last thing I need. I
usually spend it doing more of
the same thing anyway: wiping
glitter glue off the
refrigerator handle, extracting
graham crackers from the VCR and
breaking up fights over a Batman
doll that has just one leg and
half a cape.
Yet, after several years of Fall
Backs, I have come up with some
clever things moms can do with
their extra hour. Here are a few
of the activities that have kept
me busy year after year:
-
Explain to
your two-year-old why 4:30
a.m. is an ungodly hour to
wake up for the day.
-
Memorize the
dialogue in "Finding Nemo."
Then stage a reenactment of
the movie for your husband
when your toddler wakes
everyone up again at 4:30
the next day.
-
Write your
resume with the plastic
alphabet-shaped magnets on
the refrigerator door while
you let the kids play the
drums on your Tupperware
because, darn-it, it's only
3 p.m.
-
Make a big
pile of leaves. Hide in it.
-
Play the
Wiggles' "Nicky Nacky Nocky
Noo" over and over
backwards, searching for
hidden meaning.
-
Send out a
distress signal using the
pans from your kid's
Easy-Bake oven and the sun,
since it's up earlier now.
Just like you.
-
Let the air
out of your husband's car
tires, so he can find out on
Monday what it's like to
"Fall Back" into an extra
hour with the kids.
-
Send your
brood into the garage --
where hubby is putting air
in his tires -- with the toy
kazoos your mother-in-law
gave them, and call it
"quality time."
-
Count the
hours until Spring Ahead
mercifully makes you lose an
hour. Just 3,864 hours to
go!