Coping & Coding

Okay, peeps.

We made it to Friday. Amen, Halleluiah.

I’m relieved to report that Little Man is stable and powering through the flu without hitting rock bottom. 

Who knows? Maybe our illness expectations have changed after the past two months’ onslaught, but I think he’s going to recover from this one without it lingering too long (knocking on wood, here).

Which brings me to the topic of our post tonight: what the heck do you do with kiddos who are home sick (repeatedly) but not completely bedridden???

Obviously, we passed the awww, I get to enjoy a sick day with my boy vibes about seven weeks and 27 viruses ago. It can be sweet, quality time on rare occasion, but when it’s so frequent and frustrating, the situation is vastly different.

In fact, Little Man has weathered so many absent days, he’s got the routine down a little too well, and perhaps enjoys the unlimited TV, iPad and master bedroom lounging time a bit too much. If we didn’t have positive viral results for alllllll his rounds of illness, I’d almost worry he was faking it at times. Ha. 

So…I’ve had to get a bit creative with getting him any kind of electronic reprieve.

Doodles are always our go-to activity, and a solid hands on break.

Puzzles work, too, and are definitely low key.

But with soooo many absences over the past few weeks, I’ve had to get a bit more academically minded, so his brain doesn’t turn to mush!

We’ve tackled worksheets and online math quizzes (when he’s up to it), our own at-home reading, and anything else I can find for small, use-your-brain breaks.

But I also hit the jackpot with an activity that utilizes his iPad in a sneaky, beneficial way.

Helloooo, our longtime Osmo friend.

I actually gave him this coding pack for his bday, and lemme just go ahead and say he opened it, didn’t know what it was, wasn’t excited, and kind of tossed it aside, ha.

But I was playing the long game, and knew it would come in handy in the right place and time! 



There are a couple of games involved, and you’re basically “coding” or giving your character sequential instructions to achieve your objective.



He got sooooo into it, that he was hollering at the screen, muttering to himself, and getting a major kick out of it! I caught some really cute videos. :) 



At one point, he even hollered that it was the “best game, ever,” and while I know that was hyperbole, I feel like it was still a pretty strong thumbs up, ha.



I was also impressed with how adept he got, fairly quickly.

He began with just one or two commands, and kept growing the sequences…



Eventually, he had a looooong string is them, and it was a kick to watch. 



Since he used this one day when the girlies were at school, they haven’t seen it, yet, and I feel like they’ll love it, too (and probably all fight over it).

It’s nice to have some sort of outlet that still utilizes his electronics, but in a challenging way.

So…yay for a small bit of coding to exercise his brain amidst these constant viruses.

And double yay for playing the long con on gifts that might not excite him at first glance, ha. ;)

HAPPY FREAKING FRIDAY, peeps!

We’re going to do our best to recalibrate this weekend.

Over and out.