Another Saturday Edition

The television is officially banned in my house. It's not a permanent ban. That would be too much for me. But it's a ban until attitudes are better and my house is clean. And it's only in effect while kids are up. Kairi was interacting less and less with her brother and I, becoming angry if I talked during a show, and only pretending to be characters on her shows. Yesterday I had enough. She was talking back because I was trying to get them to color and she wanted me to turn the tv on. She melted into the floor bawling because I refused. And that's when I decided that I had had enough. I informed her that the tv wasn't going to be turned on for the rest of the day. If she fought me over it, I would spank her. So she needed to come color. She pouted through color time, but eventually forgot about the tv. Alex and Kairi played in their bedrooms without needing my supervision (and no fights) for a couple of hours after naptime was over. And they didn't fight me over helping straighten up their rooms before bed that night.

As of this morning, the tv hasn't been on, no one has asked for it, and I've not had a major attitude from either child. If the day continues to be this good, I plan on us having a picnic in the living room floor tonight when I'll treat them to watching Thumbelina with me. I cannot tolerate their previous behavior though. I semi blame myself because when I was sick I allowed the tv to be on waaaaaay too much. But that's over with. Yay! lol





I had been planning on starting "school" with Kairi this spring. She needs more formal learning and I know that she's ready for it. After Alex's evaluation the other week, I realized that Alex needs it as well. So I'm currently gathering resources and will soon start "homeschooling" for preschool. Now, Kairi will be in a regular preschool next year, as in Florida the state pays for 4 year old preschool. But it would not hurt to start this year and get ahead. Especially for Alex as he already is starting to recognize letters and can tell me some of their sounds.

I plan on rearranging the living room and purchasing some new furniture to help with this. It actually fits nicely into the no-tv rule as I'm going to be moving the tv and putting their school table in that corner. Maybe I'll mount the tv on the wall or something. Either way, the tv will no longer be the certain of attention in my living room. I keep threatening to take the large tv upstairs to my bedroom and putting the tiny tv downstairs for the occasional video.

I've had so much fun picking out workbooks and games and things for the kids to learn with. I think we're going to start with the Kumon workbooks, along with a couple of others by School Zone and Brain Quest. They look like a lot of fun and something that the kids will truly enjoy. Then I a friend recommended a couple of games/books that came with her homeschool curriculum that I'm going to invest in. I hope that this goes as well in reality as it does in my head. lol






I have made a weight loss goal and I need to post my progress to keep myself accountable. After Alex was born, I was really good about watching what I ate and working out every day. I lost weight quickly. By the time Chris had returned from his deployment, I was a size 8 and still losing weight. Today, that is not the case. I'm back to where I was, and I hate it. So my goal is simple, 110-115 pounds by June 26. It's a reasonable goal. It would require me to lose 2 pounds a week. I'm going to not count calories, but keep a general idea of what I'm eating calorie and fat content wise. I'm going to work out every day, even if some days it's just stretching and crunches. I also should buy myself a scale. That way if I do start to slide in the wrong direction, it won't take me having to change back into bigger clothes to figure it out. I'm not going to run myself into the ground, but I am going to be consistent about this. Once upon a time, Kairi thought that crunches and other exercises were just things you did every day -- things like cleaning and cooking that you did but could learn to enjoy. I know that she doesn't think that anymore. I'd like to change her mind again. :)