Vicarious Rocky

Another year goes by and you're as fabulous as ever! Enjoy the year of your new business paradigm, your marathon running, and your off-continent adventure. I love you so much. Dude, we've been married 13 years!

Where the hell have I been? Fine question. I have been writing a novel. I am obsessed and it is stealing all my writing energy and focus. It's horribly embarrassing to admit, but here I am, admitting it. The embarrassment especially stems from the fact that I quit my job 10 years ago to do this as well, and I did it and hated what I wrote and it was a humiliating, painful, soul-sucking experience.

Well, this time it has been an incredibly easy, enriching experience. I am 60% done, and I think it's something someone would enjoy reading. Are you that someone? That, I am not so sure about. More on that later . . .

Mostly the joy in it comes from a better perspective. Because of my cushy life, financial success in this endeavor no longer matters, so I am committed to a long and unfruitful journey as a writer. I have multiple projects in the air and feel no urgency to be on Oprah's Book Club. This is a process. A long and enjoyable journey that leads to wherever, and I'm fine with that.

But, I haven't been blogging because I am shooting to submit the manuscript to a contest with a mid-November deadline.

OK, that is all! Oh, no wait! I do not want to tell you what it is about, so don't ask. :)

see more Fail Blog

Indy is still slow, but better. Seems to me that Indy needs all kinds of coaching and practice in things that come easy for other kids. Like riding a bike, talking, and coloring.

He's made great strides in transitions, socialization, and my favorite, "Line." He's also taking direction better, but clearly remains in his own little world when overstimulated. He's still failing language skills and small motor skills.

We, the Lewis parents, now have a new sense of urgency and it's called Kindergarten. If he can't master pencil grip by September of 2010, he's going to be in a world of hurt. Well, really just a world of frustration. And he is, they tell me, way behind. I have certainly noticed, but have been so focused on Language, social and large motor problems this summer, that I only worked on writing his name. And they told me he couldn't write his name, so they obviously don't feel our efforts were sufficient there.

But overall it was a good meeting. Sage summed it up well saying that this year he's not taking this personally. That's exactly how I felt. This really is about Indy and meeting him where he's at. The goals of all this seemed to really emerge at this new meeting. It's about giving Indy as much help as possible to reduce frustration and help him fit in so he doesn't feel isolated. That's it. Nice and simple. We're not creating the world's brightest anything. Not making sure he supersedes the Jones boy. Not honing his skills for the 8th grade debate team. Just trying to ensure a happy, well-adjusted kid.

The best thing about Indy is he's clearly very bright and amazingly creative. He's also curious about life and very insightful about situations and people. I think once this development stuff clicks and he catches up with his peers, they'll be no stopping him.

Says to me this morning: “I’m gonna miss you when I’m a big boy at school all day.” Followed shortly by, “Can we still play Raccoon?” To which I responded, “We can play Raccoon forever.” Sigh. Why do I suspect 13-yr-old Indy will not be interested in the Raccoon puppet?

Also in the adorable category – he wanted to go up to the Deli restaurant counter by himself on Saturday after he ate his pizza to say, “Thank You.” He’s also been greeting Daddy every day asking, “So, how was work today?” And after Sage answers he continues, saying, “What did you do at work?”

Pizza Thank You night was incidentally the same evening he recognized / named the Scrabble tiles A, L, and E. He also did something totally freaky that night that had to just be a coincidence! He was loitering while Clayde and I scrabbled, and I said I needed to make a word that had 24 points to stay ahead. Then I put my word down and counted the points saying, “Well, it’s 8 with a double word score. So eight twice.”

I shit you not, Indy says, “Is 16 enough?” To which I responded, “What did you just say?!” And Clayde said, “You heard him.”

He also site read the word, “Gun,” yesterday. WTF? What ever happened to “Cat?” I get a sense some days that he’s very bright, but trapped in that pretty little head.

We have a meeting with the teachers and school psychologist tomorrow morning, so all illusions that my son is on par with peers may soon be shattered. I’ll let you know.

• Spent Labor day weekend at the foggy, but warm, lake house. The kids had a ball, and I got to sleep and eat a lot, so vacation mission accomplished.

• Before Labor day Indy got a note from his teachers to bring home that said he was doing well! I almost fell over dead. Evidently he's building block towers and making friends. Tah-Dah!
  
  
• I have been assigned the "Lead Parent Coordinator" role for Preschool Volunteering. It involves adorable things like organizing little festivals and parties. Solving big problems like, "Who will bring the plates? Who will tell everyone the snacks must be tree nut free?" After spending last year working for a living, this looks breezy and fun. But I mustn't express this sentiment to anyone because these ladies take this shit very seriously.
  
  
• Sage is turning into a running fiend, and I'm looking forward to cheering him on in Chicago on October 11th for the marathon.
  
  
• I am Jazzercising 4 days a week in hopes of no longer being a weakling. See marathon man bullet above. I can't compete with that certainly, but I can try and stop jiggling when I walk.
  
  
• SageRock lives and breathes without me. Hard to imagine, but true. I am still interested in the potential building purchase and figuring I have to help move the office to somewhere. Unfortunately, our realtor retired mid commercial deal. That seems annoying to me, but Sage is handling it and is not at all annoyed because Sage thinks unpredictable crap like that is "exciting."
  
  
• I've got other stuff I am working on in my free time too -- writing mostly -- but nothing worth expounding upon at the moment.

Over and out.

Today, I was the volunteer at school that took the kids down for their hearing and speech test. This meant I got to talk to each kid for about 5 minutes. The whole process of escorting, waiting with them and escorting them back took 2 hours. Each kid was adorable and amazing. Highlights include the kid that is obsessed with Star Wars but hates the third movie because it has lava "and I hate lava." The little girl named Vivian who, when I told her I knew someone named Vivian, said "I didn't think there was anyone else on Earth named Vivian." And then there was the petrified 3-yr-old who took a bear to the test and explained that the bear (who shared his name) was going to take the test for him.

Indy was the last kid to go, and I took him with 2 other kids his age. So all three of us were chatting. After talking with all the kids, and then talking with my own in a small group, it became painfully obvious he still needs language therapy. The length of time on pauses alone makes life hard for him as other kids interrupt. But, even with me, he is slow and unsure of himself with conversation.

Ah well, here's to another year of preschool!