I have mentioned we are audiobook enthusiasts here. I've liked them for a long time because I can listen to a book and get something else done at the same time. I've been listening to the complete works of Sherlock Holmes for a while now, catching bits and pieces of each mystery as I get in and out of the car on short trips. I'll be sad when there are no more mysteries to go.
My daughter is the biggest fan of audiobooks in the family though. She has been using her money to buy credits recently for the Percy Jackson original series and now the follow-on five-book series. When my daughter binges on a book, she is single focused. Morning while eating breakfast, during breaks from school, after school, on the speakers in the back yard while she jumps on the trampoline and during meals if we aren't having a family meal and family conversation.
My son likes the same books, but typically he's into other things. In the case of the Percy Jackson books though, he's been right there with her, including watching the movies together. There's been one difference though: my son has other interests. After school, if he's gotten everything done and has worked hard for the day (which he has been doing more and more lately) then he is allowed some screen time.
Which means he's behind his sister in the audiobook when he gets back to it. This poses problems. The audiobook has been purchased on my account, which is also connected to Alexa. The children can go to any device in the house and ask Alexa to play a specific audiobook. Audible will ask you if you'd like to pick up where you left off last time. That's great—for the first child listening.
When the second child goes to a different location and starts playing the audiobook it will pick up chapters ahead potentially. This isn't a real problem for my daughter because she is adept at navigating around with Alexa. I honestly think she tries thing after thing, phrase after phrase until she figures out how to do things. I was putting laundry up one time and overheard her change chapters. move a certain number of minutes forward, then back up thirty seconds. I didn't even know you do those particular phrases (and I could have used those options on more than one occasion.)
My son, however, had finally gotten the audiobook to the right place yesterday around dinner time. He didn't want to come to dinner because if he stopped playing the audiobook the position would set to where his sister was currently listening. He wanted to stand in the doorway of his room for the balance of the night so he didn't get lost in the book.
Today, they started a new book. My son had a parade of cars to wave goodbye to a classmate who is moving. He pitched a fit about the audiobook before he left because his sister would be further along if he went on this "stupid parade thing" (or some equally unkind words). He and his father decided to listen to the book in the car, causing another audiobook split that will have to be dealt with tonight.
The Big Boy Update: My son wanted to watch Dr. Strange last night. I sat down with him, intending to watch five minutes but not moving from the spot until the movie was over. I like that movie a lot.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter lost her shoes. This happens relatively often becuase she pulls them off and doesn't make a mental note of where she took them off. Mostly she knows where they are though. Today she and I looked all over and ultimately had to go with her backup pair because she was getting geared up to go biking at 4:00. She came back a little later and asked if I could message Keira's mom to see when she'd be out. I asked my daughter if they were still doing their 4:00 meet on the weekend since today was Saturday. She said, "oh yeah, we decided to take a break". I thought she'd be disappointed after getting all ready, but she seemed fine to not have to go biking, even though it's her favorite part of the day.
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