Homemade Forts

Oh, how I remember the days of homemade forts.  I can vividly remember taking apart the entire living room in my childhood home, positioning furniture just right, removing all couch cushions, and pulling out every blanket and sheet from the linen closet.  All to make the biggest, coolest, sturdiest fort.  It would drive my mother mad to find her house like this, and I can remember her exact tone of voice when she'd say, "you'd better be prepared to put it all back the way you found it."  And we would.

Somehow Joey has discovered how much fun hiding under a blanket can be.  He is constantly asking us to make him a fort, and he gets so excited when we do.  His fort is much simpler than my old fort structures.  Thankfully his fort does not involve furniture moving, mounds of couch cushions and pillows, or even a trip to the linen closet.  He's only 2, so he's pretty happy with a simple blanket hanging from the side of the couch.  For now. 

I left a throw blanket on the couch last night, and the minute Joey spotted it this morning he had forts are the brain.  Well, I've found that our baby gate system is actually quite versatile in that when I bend it just right it creates the perfect little spot for my 3-foot tall friend.  As I draped the blanket over the top of the gate I looked over at Joey.  He was dragging his little-kid couch across the livingroom to put in his fort.  He then walked over to the table, collected his snack cup, and got into this lounging position. 

This simple structure kept my son occupied for 30 minutes today, as he brought various toys into his hideaway.

So if you haven't yet tried it I highly recommend homemade fort-making to any Stay-At-Home-Mom out there looking for a few minutes to herself.  And if you've got another simple idea to keep a little one busy let's hear it!