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Swimming! The weather is super hot here these days, sometimes hitting triple digits. The advantage is that I am able to sneak in some swim practice for kiddo in our pool every week.This is one of those things I have to "push" and "nudge" him about or he will just let the sunny day go to waste, preferring instead to curl up with a book indoors. Once a week isn't often enough in my opinion, but hey, I'll take it!

Reading! There's been tons of that going on here lately. Kiddo loves to read but he sure does it in seasons. Whole weeks sometimes go by without him touching a lit or non-fiction book but when he picks one up again, he always makes up for lost time. He read 30 books in the last three plus weeks alone. That's more than one book a day! Almost all were re-reads of well-loved novels but a few were new like this biography of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Netflix Marathon: This time, it's The 4400 and Heroes. Hiro's Great-o Scott-o is a favorite expression around here now.

Workload! Kiddo's workload has increased exponentially this year. It's hard for me to challenge him without using outside classes and with such classes come deadlines and increased expectations. While we could make do with loosey goosey 15-20 hour weeks last year, we are not able to this year. He works hard. And I'm trying my best to help him sort it out so that he's able to enjoy the process as much as possible. It's not easy. Especially on the days when he needs to put in seven solid hours like he did today, due to a tough deadline. Or working on weekends.

I hope to balance this using heavy weeks interspersed with lighter weeks, taking a day off if we need to, suggesting frequent breaks, and anything else that seems best for him. It's nice to see him loving the work. He does not complain. But I also don't want it to be all work and no play. It's not easy trying to find what's exactly right for your kid. It really isn't. What makes it worth it is his happy fist pumps and wide grins when he attends these classes. I'm fortunate that he's a diligent, good-natured kid.

Respite! I'm thankful again and again that Adrian is always there when we need him. Just having this long little fella around is enough to brighten the toughest days. When he suddenly takes it upon himself to jump out of his bed, stretch and then roll over, inviting us to rub his belly, there's little we can do but acquiesce, tight deadlines or no.