Follow-Up: Summer Goals

We didn't accomplish all of my summer goals. However, we did accomplish a few of them, so I thought I should update my life-log, for future reference. [Related: I just had to Google "blog etymology" because I forgot where the "b" came from. !!?! (web. web-log)]

1. Finish the Easter puzzle. .... nope. In fact, I finally put it back into its box on Saturday morning. Gave up. Not going to happen in this stage of our lives. I will save it for my first week of retirement, someday, and work on it while eating Raisin Bran for lunch.

2. Bike riding. Another nope. Too hot. Too tired.

3. Reading! YES! DID IT! Both kids read 4 chapter books. Maybe more. Kate, who prefers being read to, even finished several of hers without me. I'm unsure now if Grandmommy read them to her while she was in Florida, but even if.... this was a big success. I gave them the gift-card prizes, too. (See? Just because we don't have leisure-time for the public library summer reading program, doesn't mean we don't have a reading program!) Am very proud of us.

4. Swimming! Kate! YES, by the hair on her chinny-chin-chin, she figured it out by September. GO GIRLY! Like a fish.

5. [Screentime Limits] I don't even know. This issue is going to continue to crop up again and again, I think. Right now, we're in school again, so it's different from summertime, but obviously still requires limits of some kind. We discovered we're right AT our monthly usage limit on our internet usage overall, so we're monitoring that... and both kids have "favorite" YouTube channels, users who publish new videos either every day or every week ("Munching Orange" is Alex's current favorite gamer to watch, and Kate likes a makeup artist named "Promise Phan" as well as "MattyB," a kid musician/rapper who's hilarious/nauseating.) Plus, Kate is lobbying for her own tablet -- she wants it right away but I'm trying to stall her until Christmas -- so then we'll have to figure out more rules. It's a moving target. Last night, we declared no devices during the weeknights without asking parental permission. Time will also be limited if they ask. We'll see if they can survive. (Does TV count? I don't know. Yes, I think it should, but no, not really, since they can access the TV more easily and I can't "put it away.")