Nanable

My mother-in-law became a writer at the start of COVID-19 lockdown.  She and my father-in-law went to their Florida winter home and there was a lot less to do, so she started writing stories for the children.   The children loved them.  There was a storyline with Buster the dog and his adventures for my daughter and Jackson, the superhero child, and his friends for my son.   When we would see them, my mother-in-law would read her latest stories to them. 

Sometimes she would send stories up for us to either emboss for my daughter or print out for my son, but it was always a special thing when Nana would read them to the children herself.   She's created quite a collection of stories at this point, grouping them into what may become a published book in the future.  My sister-in-law suggested she even record them like an audiobook might be done.   She and my brother-in-law thought they were great. 

The only trouble was, how to do that while stuck in a house.   My husband worked with her so she could record on her tablet and the recordings would be stored in the cloud so he could access them.   Today, while I was working on something else, my husband came into the room and said, "Alexa, ask Plex to play Jackson chapter three".  The next thing I heard was Alexa announcing, "Jackson chapter three by Nanable" and then I heard Nana's voice. 

My husband said, "your daughter is upstairs in her room listening to chapter one right now."   He'd done something crazy cool and fun.   Nana had become her own Audible, her stories available over Alexa.   Go, dad.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son is listening to YouTube creators that are a little older and saying things he doesn't understand but is willing to repeat because he thinks it's funny.   We're trying to balance the line of not keeping him completely sheltered while also not condoning content that is confusing and inappropriate for his age.   Fortunately, he doesn't like headphones and listens to things on the computer beside us, so it's fairly easy to gauge. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I came upstairs after lunch today finishing up a long stint in the basement from early morning.  A package had arrived and was on the kitchen island.   I commented on its arrival and my daughter said, "Oh, that's been here forever.  Some people never look up."