The gift that keeps on giving...

After our friends Smitty (Amy) and Shaphan visited us in February, they sent us the gift of toddler entertainment: a zippered portfolio of cartoons and movies on DVD that they copied from their home library. In addition to copies of some original TV shows from our childhood including Strawberry Shortcake, The Muppet Show, and The Smurfs, they sent movies like Toy Story 1 and 2, Bambi, and Dumbo. I had no idea just how valuable these DVDs would become!

The first time they came in handy was during our recent trip back home to Michigan. Between the 4-hour plane rides and trips in the car that lasted 6-9 hours, we were able to keep Isabelle fairly entertained with our portable DVD player. After all, all kids like cartoons!

And they've already unexpectedly proved their worth this weekend. I'm home alone with Isabelle as Jason is spending a few days in Virginia Beach. I thought my weekend would be filled with trips to the park, to the children's section of Barnes & Noble, dinner dates at Panera, etc.

Instead, not long after I got Isabelle home from daycare last night, she started puking non-stop from about 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Turns out a couple of the kids at daycare have some sort of stomach virus - and Isabelle is the latest victim. In between many loads of laundry including Isabelle's clothes and two changes of bedding, and scrubbing down our coach, I was able to keep her entertained with some exciting new cartoons.

Even though she seems to be done throwing up today, she's running a mild fever and so I'm keeping her inside for the day. Normally I'd be going crazy from having back-to-back episodes of Dora the Explorer and Max & Ruby playing on TV, but today I'm having fun watching some cartoons from the 80s!

So another thank you to Smitty and Shaphan for helping preserve my sanity today :-)