Swim lessons and TV update

First off, a big congrats to Olivia for passing level 1 swim lessons. This is a huge accomplishment for her and she is a very proud little girl today. A year ago she was pretty nervous to get in the water by herself. If we were lucky she would stand on the first step by herself but insisted on being held much after that. Although we did make some progress with her using a life jacket. Nevertheless, today is a good day and we'll celebrate at Dairy Queen this afternoon. :)

As for the TV update: We are doing pretty well. We haven't gone totally unplugged but we are doing much better. Olivia does chores around the house such as unloading the dishwasher, picking up the toy room, making her bed, and other random chores. For each chore she completes she earns a star, each star equals 10 minutes of TV time or computer time. Each chore has to be done well (for a 5 year old) and be done with joy. But she must have 3 stars to redeem before she can have either one. I know her and I know myself well enough to know anything less will just end up in an argument. :) It has been cute to see how badly she wants to watch TV or play the computer by how much she is willing to do. Some days she saves her points for another time - other days she spends them as quickly as she can earn them. The most she has redeemed in one day has been 1 and a half hours. She saved for almost two days for that. :) It has been a nice adventure and we both seems to be doing well with it. William hasn't seemed to really notice the TV absence other than his early morning waking times......I mean at 5:30 in the morning really what else do you do but watch Imagination Movers. :) For me I must say, I do miss catching the morning or noon news...but I know if I dare turn it on....it will just be a slippery slope for me.....so please forgive me for not keeping up with current events.

I do have one last cute story. We were on our way to check out some Open Houses this past Sunday and while in the car Olivia shut off my phone on and said. "We need to save power mom, I'll shut your phone off. We don't want to be using fossil fuels, they are bad for our environment." Fossil Fuels??????? From a 5 year old. She learned about fossil fuels from Eco World on pbskids.org.... And I have looked it up, cell phone not only use fossil fuels being manufactured and transported but even when they are charging. I had never though of my outlet using fossil fuels. I guess TV and computer time are not all that bad. :)