Keeping A Busy Guy Happy When It's HOT Out

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Yep, it's hot outside! Even with the sauna-like heat and humidity, I'm still going to say that I like summer best and this type of heat wave is to be expected at least once a year. I can live with it, but I'm not sure Little Guy can. We've had to keep him inside during the day, as the heat index has regularly been hitting the upper 90's and has gotten over 110 degrees F a few times in the last week and a half. Add 75% or higher humidity and you've got a catastrophe waiting to happen with this kid. He's like Forrest Gump - he MUST run everywhere. It's hard to wrangle him up for a drink of water. He just loves being free. I swear, the kid giggles the entire time we go for walks or to the park, only stopping when he wants to tell us something. You could pick him up off the ground and his feet would still be going.

When he doesn't get his daily outings, he can become a handful of trouble. He's got so much pent up energy that he needs to release that it can turn into fury. He just doesn't know what to do with himself. He'll end up hitting, throwing things, having tantrums over the simplest things... it's a nightmare. So, hubby and I decided to alter the whole family's timetable. We've been putting Little Guy to bed around midnight rather than 9:30pm. We stay up until 1 or 2am to get some alone time. Little Guy usually doesn't wake up until 9-9:30 in the morning now, instead of his usual 7am. Strangely, nap time has only moved back a little bit, but it's lasting longer (YES!)

What do we do while we're up so much later? We go for walks and head to the park! On our walks, we encounter lots of interesting creatures that you just don't see during the day. Little Guy and I have been looking for moths and other insects (and arachnids!) in trees, on lampposts, in bushes, and on our own porch. Check out some of what we found in just one night (the first three pics are of a moth that was about 3 inches long!):

My husband says he said his name is "Irving"

These guys remind me of Murano glass beads.

I've seen this type moth in some amazing colors - from brown like a leaf to fluorescent purple. They all are the same size with the same shape. Someday, I'll find out what they are.

In addition to our walks (or Little Guy's "runs"), we've been hitting the park. I've been having a ton of fun taking pictures blind - it's so dark there that it's really hard to see anything, especially through the lens of my camera. As you can see, the flash can be a blinding surprise!

Sometimes I caught some pretty cool photos by just pointing and hitting the button!

There are some drawbacks to taking a little one to a very dark park - if he's running faster than you, he can disappear into the night. I shot the above pic in hopes that the flash would show us where he went. Oh, and there are wild animals at the park. Little Guy was running toward the shelter, where people picnic. It has a nice trash can filled with all kids of leftover goodies that attract animals. Just as he got to the shelter, I saw the shadow of a small animal scurrying away. Then we noticed something... n odor. It was a skunk and Little Guy had surprised him. I took off like a bat out of hell toward the shelter, screaming, "STOP!!!" at the top of my lungs at 11:30 at night. I grabbed up Little Guy, praying that he'd still smell like citronella oil and NOT Eau d' Pepe La Pew. He was fine. That's when I noticed that every house across the street from the park had its lights on and people were mulling around on their porches and front yards. Oops - guess the screaming must've woke a few people up. After this incident, we kept Little Guy in MUCH closer range! 

Looking at the stars.

 We also took advantage of the lack of players on the tennis courts. Now here was a place that was partially lit and fenced in - our little freebird couldn't get too far away from us! He loved throwing his ball and chasing after it. Plus, we didn't have to run after him. We managed to sit down, drink our ice water, and talk! Oh, and I want to mention that, when we got home on the night these photos were taken, we checked the Weather Channel - the heat index, at 11:45pm, was 90 degrees!

So, what do you do when it's too hot for your little ones to get outside and burn off some energy??? 

***I just want to add here that the really cool bug shirt little guy is wearing is from Tea Collection - it's a prize I won from a giveaway on Abby Approved! Isn't it awesome?!