Tent Sleeping

I know I mentioned in my last post that I was blogging about our camping trip from the beginning of this month but that is still in progress. The tent sleeping I'm getting ready to blog about is Connor's new found love for sleeping in his playtent on the floor.

It started with the commercial on the Disney channel where there are kids laying in a tent outside at night looking at an iPad and watching Disney Jr. Because yeah..... if I'm camping in the backyard I'm going to whip out my tablet and watch TV... not enjoy the stars or surrounding nature. ANYWAY.... Connor saw the commercial and wanted his playtent out and put together. Which... I was surprised that he even remembered that he had it. Its been a long time since we pulled it out.

Keep in mind that breakfast hadn't even been put on the table yet and he wanted this tent!!! Soooo I put it together and he played in it for 5 min and then moved on. Yay....

Naptime came around and Connor told me he wanted to nap in the tent. I told him he couldn't nap in it in the living room but we could move it into his bedroom. <--- That was mommy's BIG mistake!! I folded up a comforter so he had a cushion and he went to sleep. Bedtime came around and he again... wanted to sleep in the tent. I rolled with it.

Sunday came and he again slept in the tent. I began to worry. I didn't want him sleeping on the floor. I mean... can it physically harm him? I don't know? Do I want to encourage him to sleep on the floor? No. Either way it wasn't sitting well with me.

There wasn't going to be a, "Wait for him to fall asleep and move him." He literally moved all his blankets, pillows and stuffed animals (in his words, "friends") in the tent with him. Moving him would have been a nightmare.

Wednesday it hit me... I make awesome blanket forts! Off to work I went.... I transformed his toddler bed to a toddler bed tent. He LOVED it, crawled right in and let me take the tent out of his room. Tonight is the second night and he's fast asleep in his little tent made by mommy!

Sleeping on the floor in his tent

In his new toddler bed tent!

With his friends of course

 This is yet another way parenting makes you think outside the box. Have you had to think outside the box lately?

The Love of Blanket Forts

I grew up building blanket forts in the basement, my bedroom, the living room or any room that would hold one. I LOVED building them! I could create elaborate ones that had tunnels to areas that opened up to big spaces. Sometimes I built one that could blow up when we attached a fan to it. And sometimes I would build them and then my sister and I would have a sleep over inside them. FUN!

Every once in a while I get a craving to build one.... now that I have Connor around... its acceptable!

I was sitting at work on Friday and the craving hit me! Kevin was going to be in school for the evening and it would just be me and Connor. I decided building a blanket fort and watching a movie while eating dinner would be a FABULOUS idea.

It was!!

Last time I just used chairs to prop the sheet up. It was fun... but not elaborate by any means. Good... but not my best.

Our first blanket fort

On Friday I dug out my twine, pulled out three sheets, and pulled all the cushions off the couch. I was on a misson! Check out our Friday hide-a-way....

It took up the whole living room... AND included the TV!

I attached the twine from the chairs to other stable things around the room.

We used the cushions and couch pillows as a place to lounge.
Connor insisted on bringing his friends... Teddy, Pluto 1, Pluto 2 and Mickey Mouse.

This is the life Mommy... now where's dinner!?

Sometimes... you have to just enjoy the "bear necessities" of life!

Needless to say we had an awesome time. When Connor got bored with the movie we pulled out the cars and played with them on the cushions in tent. After Connor went to bed, I climbed in the tent and enjoyed an episode of X-Files in the dark until Kevin came home from school. Before bed I took down the tent (didn't want the cat's to try to climb on top of it in the middle of the night and have a big crash). I'm looking forward to more tents as it gets colder and we're stuck inside.

Connor agreed that we should be thankful for Blanket Forts before going to bed... so Day 4 we added "Blanket Forts" to our Thankful Zone.