Cheese and Whine

Here's what we did this week:

• Read Genesis 11
• Read Leading Little Ones to God, Lesson 32
• Did Singapore Math Intensive Practice, 1B topic 2
• Did two Scholastic Success for First Grade worksheets (sometimes busywork is a good thing) (like when speaking - at all - triggers twenty minutes of coughing and nose blowing)
• Read Fa Mulan: The Story of a Woman Warrior by Robert D. San Souci (on Friday, so followed by only five minutes of coughing)

That's IT, for the whole week. St. Nick did a few things on his own - made a host of "I Love You Mom" posters, drew a comic book (about a robot, I think - he hasn't mastered plot yet, but that's ok, since neither have half the published authors out there), and built about five thousand Lego projects.

What he didn't do was watch TV nonstop all week. This surprised me. When we dropped Dr. D at the airport Tuesday morning, and I came home and flopped on the couch, I pretty much expected the next two days would involve me feeling guilty about the kids watching television.

They watched, I think, even less than usual. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe they were worried Mom's mucus would thicken so much she truly couldn't breathe? (It came close.) So they wanted to stay near me? Maybe they're moving beyond this entertainment obsession? Whatever the reason, I'm glad for it.

I watched half hour last night and gave up, after being severely offended by some show. I don't even know what it was called because I'd never seen it before. The story went like this: a pastor was having trouble with his congregation because they thought he was sleeping with his hottie girlfriend. He wasn't, but the people treated her coldly (in a rather silly way), and so he quit his preaching post (as if it were not a calling, but just another job) and celebrated by going to hottie's house to rip her clothes off. Hmmm.

No, it wasn't HBO. I don't have cable. We get three clear-ish channels, and two fuzzy ones.

The point is, maybe the kids are starting to feel the same way about the box as me. (That would be boredom with a touch of horror and disdain, in case it wasn't clear.) That's worth a week of school lost, I'd say! (Nice try at the excuse-making, I know.)

Screen Zombie?