1- Parenting update. After a terrible start to the week, I am so happy to report that my time with the kids has been so much more enjoyable these past few days. I am not sure it is due to a less distracted state on my part (probably contributing) or a renewed dedication to getting them IN BED at a reasonable hour.
Currently bedtime is ~8:30 which means heading upstairs at 7:45 pm. We had gotten so lax about this that their bedtime was starting to bleed past my own bedtime, and everyone was largely miserable.
(I’m already dreading “fall back” Nov 1, but I guess I should just not think about it!)
2- Duolingo. Yesterday someone (astutely!) noticed Duolingo on my screen time shot! I finally signed up because Annabel is doing Spanish (she has it at school but it also supplementing with Duolingo) and I wanted to do it with her.
Given her highly plastic 8 year old brain, she will probably learn faster than I will. Right I am in the “Yo como manzanas” phase of learning. But even if it gets me to a very very basic level of understanding / ability to speak, that will be better than my current level.
(Despite working in South Florida, I actually do not have that many patients that speak only Spanish because we have 3 providers in our group of 6 who are fluent, and they take most of these patients! I do sometimes need to use an interpreter when on call though if someone comes into the hospital. Most common languages needed: Spanish, French Creole, and Russian).
3- CLUE. We bought the 1980s version of Clue. The kids are into it, but it’s very hard to play games when you also have a toddler around (unless you have a 2nd adult to distract or take the toddler elsewhere). Hopefully this weekend we will be able to make this happen for A&C.
4- Screen Time. I did meet all of my Operation 100 goals yesterday. I am really fully dedicated to this effort and I hope I can maintain the energy. (I think it will be especially helpful as we draw closer and closer to the election. It’s not like I’m not sure who I’m voting for and need more info!).
Annoyingly, my phone auto-upgraded to iOS14 right before I went to bed and erased all of my minutes! But I had previously glanced at it and saw 1 hr 31 minutes minus some time for maps and a 30 minute Webex meeting, so I feel confident logging it as 60.
5- PSA Speaking of Election: EVERYONE VOTE! IN PERSON IF POSSIBLE! PLEASE!! If you haven’t already, check out your state’s election info here. I just went ahead and verified the early voting locations for our state — personally, I will be Early Voting at our local library!
TONIGHT’S GLAMOROUS PLANS: break into this baby 🙂
(Sorry for the recycled pic – apparently when I am not using my phone I have very few images at the ready! Oh well. Worth it.)
15 Comments
Clue is a big favorite at our house these days. One of my kids made Lego minifigure versions of all the characters and now we use those instead of the colored pegs.
oh how cute!!
We played Clue for the first time during quarantine time this spring and it was a big hit here too. We’ll have to pull it out again! I also started using DuoLingo this past winter to try to learn French….in anticipation of a Paris trip over spring break. You can guess how that turned out… 🙁 I’ve let it lapse now since the trip is off indefinitely, but I should pick it back up. The app is definitely a fun and better use of phone time than random scrolling.
Good for you guys for learning Spanish! I actually double majored in Spanish and Nursing in college and speak Spanish fluently. My husband is from Mexico, too, so we use it at home all the time and of course with his (many….) siblings and relatives. 🙂 The boys are embarrassingly NOT totally fluent in Spanish, though they speak a lot. My husband always spoke to them in Spanish when they were little, and still does very often, but they answer in English!! Grrr. When we go to Mexico it’s crazy how fast they pick more up though!!! Within days they are jabbering on to everyone in Spanish.
I bet they will learn if they’ve been partially immersed in it so long! They are lucky 🙂 🙂 And yes, it is a great use of phone time!
I should use the duolingo ap. Our son goes to Spanish immersion daycare so he understands Spanish but uses it sparingly at home. But he often uses Spanish words and I have to ask my husband if it’s gibberish or Spanish. Ha. It’s usually Spanish. My husband minored in Spanish and studied abroad in Spain for a semester/took all classes in Spanish/lived with a Spanish family. So he was fluent but he’s kind of lost that but can understand everything. Speaking is harder. But it would be nice to learn some Spanish since our little guys will be in this daycare until 2026! They aren’t going to Spanish immersion school, though, so I think I will try to find some way to keep their Spanish language alive/in use. Maybe through a tutor or afterschool program or summer camps? We’ll see.
I am glad you are having a better week of parenting!
Random comment – we’ve been watching the Jeffrey Epstein documentary on netflix which is horrifying! But it made me think of you since WPB is a huge area of focus in the doc and I think that’s close to where you live or where you live now? Gosh he was a total monster. I can not believe how much he got away with for so long. Makes me sick!!!
West Palm is like 45 min – 60 min north but still -ICK! That is rather close! I think I am not going to watch that, it will not bring me any happiness!
We loved Clue when our kids were 8-10, or thereabouts. On voting, Yes! Vote early and in person if possible. If you want a fun project to get involved that you could do with the kids and that involves calligraphy and not being online, you might want to write postcards to voters from groups that historically have suffered from low voter turnout– https://actionnetwork.org/forms/reclaim-our-vote-signup/
Oh wow that sounds great!
Wow, that Clue check-list thing really brought back some memories for me! Good luck on learning Spanish… at one time I was quite fluent but I’m afraid I’ve totally forgotten it from lack of use.
Even if we vote really early by mail, you think that might not get counted?
I don’t know, but there has been so much discussion and controversy that I’d prefer to just vote in person (to be fair I’m in a state that offers early voting which is really nice and should prevent crowds)
I love duo lingo (154 days and still going strong)! Glad this is a fun activity you and A can do together!
My 8 year old is doing postcards to voters with me. Civics plus handwriting!
DC is mailing ALL voters a mail-in ballot, so our plan is to fill it out and drop it in a special ballot drop box as soon as we get it. Thanks for posting your voting plan! I tried to play Clue with my kids but I’m the one who has a hard time understanding game directions, ha ha. I think they were too little and squirmy too. We should try again now. Thanks for the reminder! Also, I have had my kids using the paid version of Duolingo Mandarin to supplement the only once a week Mandarin they get at school. My now first grader could use it even when he could barely read in K, and it actually helped him learn how to read English. Highly recommend!
Oh I need to get the older style Clue! We have the new version and it seems more complicated. I let my kids watch a few minutes of the Clue movie at the beginning of quarantine and now they want to play the game all the time.