I just turned off the television, as my children were scaring me with their slack-jawed stares.

“Can I play Gameboy?” asks my son, looking for a loophole in the plan. 

“No.”

Soon, Maddie started coloring another box from Amazon.com.  Matthew rediscovered his Snap Circuits kit.  There was brief play with an umbrella.  And now, my son is creating a new Pokemon character.

My daughter, proving that necessity is the mother of invention, has now opened up the basket with all her old diaper-changing paraphernalia.  As I type, she has made the Desitin the mommy doll, and the Nystatin ointment the baby.  “Go to sleep, little girl.  Go to sleep my dear baby.”

Laura Ingalls has nothing on her.