Screen Free Week

The post title is kind of a joke -- we have utterly failed at Screen Free Week (the last day of which is tomorrow). I wonder how many other people did better! We got off to a bad start when I encouraged Rocket Boy to unplug the TV for the week. "But then the DVR will reset all the channels every time I plug the TV in again," he protested.

"Well, just don't plug it in again for a week," I suggested.

"Then how can I watch TV?"

Talk about Unclear on the Concept. Anyway, my approach to Screen Free Week with the twins was to tell them that we were TRYING not to look at screens and we would TRY not to turn on the TV until at least 4 or 5 pm. This actually worked, and they watched much less TV than normal. They were helped along by the fact that I did not mess around on my computer while they were home and awake. Instead, each afternoon I went and sat in their room with a book and a cup of tea. If they wanted to be in the living room watching TV, fine, I just sat and read my book. But having me in their room was definitely an attraction, and they spent a lot of time in there too, playing with toys.

The take-away lesson for me is simple: don't get on the computer when they're home, sit in their room. I'll try.

It was a special week in other ways too (not counting my strained rhomboid muscle, for which I'm now on an assortment of painkillers and a muscle relaxant). Thursday was the Kindergarten Concert, which I'd been looking forward to for the past month. Kid A had some digestive issues the day before, and my tummy didn't feel good either, and I was so afraid that we were all going to come down with a norovirus and miss everything. But he got better, I got better, and we all got to go to the concert. It was adorable, and I sniffed back tears much of the time.

Music education is important to me and their school has a wonderful music teacher. While I haven't observed any special musical talent in my children, they do seem to respond to music, and I want to give them plenty of opportunities to do so. Maybe we'll do piano lessons later or maybe we'll just follow along with what the public schools offer. I love what I see coming from the school so far.

Friday was the Fun Run, when all the school grades, from preschool to 5th, run around a course in groups (and then relax with popsicles from King Soopers). Fortunately, although it poured rain and even hailed on Wednesday, by Friday the grass was fairly dry. Here are the kindergarten classes getting ready to do their 1/3-mile stint (older grades ran further). Kid A is in a turquoise shirt in the front row.

Each class was accompanied by one or more TEACHERS. To teach at this school, you apparently have to be a runner. It blows my mind, thinking of the teachers at MY elementary school (heavy smokers, overweight). Times have changed, or maybe it's just Boulder. Here are the kindergarteners setting out.

And here are some of them, about 2/3 of the way along.

Kid B, in a red shirt, is in the little pack just behind the solo runner. My boos did fine, running, but they were not the fastest. There were some really speedy little kids, especially among the first graders. Probably the children of Bolder Boulder runners. It's something to work on...

All this lovely greenness will be (temporarily) obscured tomorrow by yet another blanket of white. I can't stand it! Mother's Day, and we're supposed to get a foot of snow. We'll see if it's really that bad, but it's going to be pretty bad regardless. In Boulder, Mother's Day is traditionally the time to plant tomatoes, but boy oh boy, not this year. Maybe the next weekend.

Tonight our next-door neighbor gave the boys some lilacs to give to me. I went out to thank her and noticed that she was, in fact, cutting heaps and heaps of lilacs off the bush by their front door. "Might as well cut them -- they'll be gone after tomorrow," she said, and I realized she was right. The snow is going to TAKE THE LILACS OUT. So Kid A and I went over to Clifford's house and pulled a whole bunch of lilac blossoms off his bush. (I figured the tenants wouldn't mind.) We took all the flowers inside and put them in vases.

The kitchen has a lovely smell now. I plan to enjoy it thoroughly tomorrow, while ignoring the snow piling up outside.