I fulfilled a rain check on an offer to watch a family members kids recently. It just so happened that it was on Cass’s birthday. Cass just turned 2. For those of you just tuning in, we have 3 boys ages 18, 16 and 2. That last sentence makes for some good blogging right there but this little share is not about any of that. I could tell my family member felt like they were intruding on a big shin dig which I reminded him that if we HAD planned a party at all we would have invited his family but since Cass is only 2 he won’t know that we intend to celebrate a couple of weeks late. My nephew, Nathaniel was arranging to bring his two kids down to spend the night at our farm while he and his wife had a date night.
Nathanial messaged back shortly and wanted to know if there was a TV in the room we were having the kids sleep in because his son was curious if he could bring his X-box. I replied, “No TV, he’s on a farm. Got no time to x box…” There were a couple of reasons I didn’t want the x-box here at the house. First, Cass is a toddler and nice electronics just don’t mix near him. I also had hope that we would find something to keep everyone entertained, kids always like to collect eggs in the coop and feed the chickens treats. We have dogs that like to play fetch and room to roam and run. My favorite standby when I’m at a loss for a busy kid is to make up an impromptu “farm scavenger hunt”. The list is pretty much the same 10 items…
- rusty nail
- 5 leaves
- worm
- pop top
- rock with bird poop on it
- piece of glass
- feather
- shiny rock
- piece of twine
- bone
I wrote a similar scavenger hunt for Nathaniel when he was little. I find if you can incorporate poop somehow and a worm it makes the hunt legit.
Since it was officially Cass’s birthday Nathaniel ended our messages by asking what kind of gift he could bring for Cass. I knew they were going to be cutting it close for time. I first said, don’t worry about a gift but I knew Nathaniel would so I said if you feel you MUST come with gift just bring the largest cardboard box you can find. I convinced him I was serious. Nathaniel did not disappoint. Apparently finding an extra large box was harder than I thought even though he was coming from a much larger city. Large chain stores don’t allow you to take their boxes.
When they arrived with the box I grabbed a big sharpie and wrote an X on it and thanked them for bringing Cass’s first X-Box, insert laugh of Muttley the dog here (if you don’t know who Muttley is Google him for full effect).
I don’t think Nate’s kids thought I was as funny as I did but I have that way with children. I had to peel them away from the new x-box to eat dinner, they played in it until it was too dark and cold to play outside and it was the first thing they played with in the morning. The box transformed into a couple of different shapes but it was largely used as a tornado shelter from what I could overhear. Cass’s first x-box was a hit with the cousins who’s age span was from 2-9.
To view the video of the kids playing inside the X-Box follow the Facebook link below to Ag Swag's Facebook page.