I mean, it’s January. But the past few days have been quite frigid — lows in the single digits when we’re getting people up and out the door in the morning. So the snow has lasted, and it is pretty. The good news is that it is a little warmer this weekend. At least the Eagles will not be playing in a blizzard this time!
We celebrated the 10-year-old’s birthday with friends on Monday at Oasis, which is this indoor play place. A number of parents expressed gratitude for having somewhere to take the kids to burn off energy at the end of a long weekend. I know my son had a really good time. I think of his birthday as the end of the cycle of kid celebrations. In May, the oldest took some friends to a restaurant for tea. The 15-year-old had a group of friends over for pizza/playing ping pong and pool and running around outside in September, the 13-year-old took a group of girls out for brunch and to Build-a-Bear in October, the 5-year-old did Chuck E. Cheese, and now we had this celebration on Monday. I think everyone was pleased, and now there is at least a few months’ gap before any more celebrating.
The 10-year-old is working his way through the PADI online course so he can get his scuba diving license! This is an exciting development of being 10. He loved snorkeling and then this “snuba” diving we did a few years ago, so I’m glad he’ll get to join his dad and older brother (the 15-year-old) on these trips.
Just a little content round-up, as I probably won’t be able to post tomorrow. On Before Breakfast, the interview this week was with Gillian Goddard, a long time friend of this blog (and a repeat guest on BOBW too!). There were short episodes on how “The devil doesn’t need another advocate” and “Don’t remember, plan.” Relying on memory tends not to work; best to give anything you want to do a time on your calendar.
At Vanderhacks, my every-weekday-morning Substack newsletter, I suggested people “Start the wait.” If you know you’re going to be waiting for someone or something to do their part, best to start the clock as soon as you can. I suggested people “Get curious when things don’t go as planned.” Maybe some smart questions can uncover a new approach. Behind the paywall, I talked about “How to make interruptions less frustrating.”
I’ve also really enjoyed hearing from people about how the Time Tracking Challenge went! I am slowly responding to all those emails — so if you reached out, know that I will get back to you within the next week!