she's just saying...

the square peg

Raising a child who has a different way of perceiving and interacting with the world is clearly tough. Doing it alone can be agonizing. H is extremely energetic and talkative and often has a hard time focusing (yes, we know the diagnosis). He's incredibly smart and funny and imaginative, but his active mind doesn't mesh well with linear tasks.

It's so clear to me and others who know him that he's going to accomplish something great in life. But he has to get through third grade, and right now, his personality is too big for a class of 25 kids. Last night we had another heart-to-heart, with tears on both sides. I tried to explain the square peg in the round hole. The square peg is perfect in its squareness but needs to try to squeeze into that hole sometimes as best it can. It's not that it's better for him, really, it's for the convenience of the rest of society. I never understood that until I had a square peg of my own.

His way is the right way for him. It's where creativity and genius live. But he has to be able to sit quietly in his seat to "succeed." So to accomplish that, it's recommended that we medicate his exuberance. Which breaks my heart.

croup-ier

Is that a sea lion in the kitchen at 4 am?

No, it's only H with the croup. A quaint old-fashioned virus, it causes kids to cough like a barking seal in the middle of the night. As we can attest.

Trying to keep a perpetual motion machine quiet isn't easy. Lots of lame movies and TV shows, hot tea with honey and lemon, chasing away the neighborhood kids, tying him to the bed. Just kidding.

I caught him on the phone in the bathroom, calling a friend to see if he could come play.

Meanwhile, I'm at home as well. Why do we feel guilty when we're home from work, even with a legit excuse? And it's not that I have much work to do, and it can all be done from home. Still I feel like I'm skipping school, not being able to enjoy it while I'm waiting to be caught.

Meanwhile, the seal is hungry - that never changes.

Labels: solo parenting, son

hell no I won't go

I can't face getting up at 4 am Sat. to stand in line to sign H up for the Bend Parks & Rec summer programs. The doors open at 7, so to get your choices, you truly have to line up at 5. 5 AM outside, that is. It's cold and dark and miserable. We huddle in chairs and blankets, wearing our ski gear, waiting it out. Many jokes about how a few years ago, it would have been for concert tix.

Just as bad is the upcoming signup for Kids Inc, the before/after-school care BPR runs in the local schools. Great program, limited space. Last year I got in line at 5, and people were camped out from the night before. It was miserable, boring, cold and damp under the trees at Hollinshead Barn.

I love love love BPR (not only because they're a great client of BendFocus) for the incredible job they do with programs, parks and trails. But there's GOT to be another solution for this registration fiasco.

What it does is reward the most determined, obsessive, clued-in parents who are able to stand in line for hours those mornings. Those who aren't in the know, are new to town or don't have the resources to get there early are screwed for summer camps or childcare for the school year.

Which is fairer, a random drawing or survival of the most determined?

I don't know, but for summer at least, I'm going to attempt the on-line registration that opens at 7am tomorrow and hope their server can take it. And you'll see me in line at 5 am for Kids Inc in a few weeks.

Labels: Bend, pov, rant, solo parenting, son

Stage mom

H continued his fledgling career as a voice-over artist today for another radio spot. Amazing coincidence that the new Edge spot called for a 9-yr-old boy.
He did great as usual - taking direction smoothly and hanging in for multiple takes. Tim Underwood really knows how to get the best from "the talent." He put H through his paces: jumping up and down, reading backwards, reading as different personalities, etc.

If I still lived in LA, I'd be driving him from callback to shoot to audition to sessions all day. Thank god we're not, really.

Labels: solo parenting, son, work

soccer in the snow

Oh my it was cold. I realize no one wants to read about third-grade soccer, including me, so I'll keep this brief. H's team came back from a 3-0 deficit and ended up with 6 goals. Including one by H, of course.

Labels: Bend, Central Oregon, son

Third grade math

I never liked it the first time around.

Now trying to help with homework problems, it's all becoming clear. I only had to live 40 years or so to get it.

A simple word problem (what is the least number of coins needed to give a customer .42 in change?) stumped the chump last night. A clear case of the classic "Read the problem!"

I had H subtracting .42 from a dollar, then working the coin numbers. I overcomplicated a simple question and confused the hell out of him.

Oh well. As Barbie used to say, "Math is hard!"

Labels: solo parenting, son