Momming Hard in May: Day 59

There's a light at the end of the tunnel. We're into our last two weeks of school.  We've been home for 59 days, and yet somehow my son still can't seem to remember that my office is in the basement. He just runs around the house yelling for me, like he's not sure where I went. Parker, I'm in the basement working. Just like I have been since March 16. Sigh...Bless his heart. 

Today he got to take a 30 minute 'class' with Leland Melvin (astronaut, former UR football player, and a visiting innovator at our school last year). That was kinda cool to be on a Zoom call with him! He gets to do another call next week and hear about living in the space station. 

Although we're almost done with school, it took me 9 weeks to figure out how to get my daughter to read more. We ordered Echo Dots for both of the kids' bedrooms last week. It was a pain for us to keep reminding them when they had class calls each day. So they set alarms on their Dots for their calls, set timers for their reading time, and they can also talk back and forth with me in the basement if they have problems (I have one in my office). In addition to that, they can also listen to music AND we got a skill that reads bedtime stories to them! (It feels like a little bit of a parent cheat, but we do still read to them most nights. Also some nights I am just DONE with them so at least they still get story time this way!)

Parker has been listening to the entire Beatrix Potter Tales collection of stories (all 3 hours of it!) And we discovered that our Dot can also be connected to Audible and read a bunch of Ainsley's books! She has a PILE of books that she wanted to read for the last year. Between her reading comprehension challenges and her vision troubles, getting her to read for 'fun' has always been an uphill battle. She got this book on her Dot on Sunday and she FINISHED THE BOOK TODAY!!! She reads along with Audible so she's still getting the visual learning. Today she finished her schoolwork and then disappeared. I assumed she had gone outside but then I found her almost TWO HOURS later, in her room with Panda, reading her book on Audible. I wish I had set this up earlier for her, but at least we have something in place for the rest of the summer. She has already picked out the next book!

And yes, she is in a bed fort. I got so tired of putting up and taking down forts in their rooms. These pop-tents are so cool - the sides zip up and down so they get the feeling of a 'fort' or a camping tent. And the nice thing about having them in the summer is that it makes their bed nice and dark for sleeping (because when they go to bed at 8pm it's still light outside!)

The weather is getting warmer, and we have a first tomato growing. I poured myself a glass of wine after dinner and started a new puzzle. Life is good.