The depths to which I've sunk in the name of "sanity"

Confession is good for the soul, so here it is:

Recently, I have gotten very, um, creative in my methods for keeping Claire occupied and active in a way I can control. As a toddler, she is, obviously, very into everything. Very curious, very inquisitive, very interested. All good qualities...when not constantly directed Mommy-ward. I know I will treasure these days in the future (and, in fact, I usually treasure them now), but in the moment, I find myself needing outlets for us both. Thus, I have recently done all of the following:

1. Gone to Target (in the rain) for no other purpose than to get popcorn and let her roam around the snack area.

2. Begun handing Claire a Lysol wipe and telling her how exciting it is to clean bathrooms! She wipes everything! Including doors! Because it's so fun!

3. Taught her to help carry laundry from the laundry room to either the living room to be folded or to the drying rack to air dry. The fun-ness of this activity is very akin to bathroom cleaning.

4. Recruited her to help with food prep (because it is so safe to do that with toddlers). I let her stand on our step ladder and pour things into other things. She loves it.*

5. Allowed her to "wash" dishes in the sink. It is very wet and messy, which bothers the tidy part of me. However, the tidy part of me isn't usually stronger than the "make her be still and reasonably quiet" part of me.

6. Let her unload the dishwasher with me. It used to be just the spoons. But, then I got lazy and allowed butter knives. Then forks...and now, I basically let her hand me anything she can reach. Again, so safe.

7. Taken unnecessary trips to Costco just so she can stretch her legs for a while. And get samples. 

8. Put on endless episodes of The Magic School Bus so that I could rest on the couch, post-migraine (surprisingly, this did not work terribly well...she ended up sitting on top of me, as close to my face as she could get. It was so restful and helpful in my recovery. Except the opposite.)

9. (and for the worst admission of them all) Pulled a little maneuver I like to call "Put on TMS for her to watch on the tv in the living room while I watched a show on the iPad in the kitchen so I could cook dinner without Ms. Frizzle talking to me about intestines." I'm awful, I know. I felt properly ashamed.

Anybody have any other suggestions? Preferable ones that make me seem like less of a Mom-shirker? Not that I promise to stop doing any of these things. Because I don't promise that at all.

*Just so everyone knows, every single activity mentioned in this post is closely monitored, no matter how flippant my tone may seem. Promise. I love my daughter and want her to be safe. **

**But also quiet and occupied.