Work Mode

I finally got myself in work mode once and for all, which isn't saying much since I had a Compliance Committee meeting right after lunch and then the Midweek Huddle an hour after that. And so I was actually "forced" into working. But I still had the morning to do the Johnnie routine. That means breakfast at McDonald's. A little Blippi to warm up for the day and then his reading and math lessons. This morning I actually pushed him pretty hard. He is now doing 1st grade lessons with both reading and math and he did what I would say was the equivalent of a week's worth of lesson plans for reading and math from his TK class, just in this one morning. I did try to balance it out with some physical activity. The one thing that I want to do more of is those science exercises. He and I were really having fun doing makeshift exercises with physics using stuff from around the apartment. Like his sundial. And so today I had it in my mind that we were going to play with paper airplanes. I don't remember where I got the idea really, but the idea really took off with Johnnie. And so I promised him we would make planes for the both of us and race it later with each other. THAT was probably the seal-the-deal move. It got him motivated enough to cruise through morning lessons and did what he was told. Enough that I got another 20-minute nap in, right after the Compliance meeting and right before the Wednesday Huddle. He was so excited about the paper airplanes that he even blew off going for a scooter ride. He MUST have been really into it. I had to look up how to make one on YouTube. Man you can Google anything... anything at all. And as it was, i successfully crafter 2 different planes, one for me and one for Johnnie. And he must have spent a good half hour flying the thing all over the apartment. I must say sailing one of those paper things 20 feet might not sound like anything, but it sure did look cool LOL.

By the time we got done with the day and got on over to Panda Express for the routine chicken teriyaki dinner, well you could see from the pic just how energetically joyful Johnnie was. It was the complete opposite of how frustrated he was during the morning lessons when things didn't come to him as easy as it did with his TK lessons and he got frustrated. So much so that he even started to cry a little. Here is where I needed to learn a lesson too. i backed off and talked to him about trying and not quitting. I got to have a Daddy teaching moment, got him to slow down and follow the process and when he did that, he got through the lessons just fine. There is an impatience about him that reminds me of... ME. I hope this does not morph into unreasonable demands for himself later on in life. I'd kick myself if I'm the one to program him to do that. Still... the paper airplanes was enough of a routine-breaker that he wanted to play some more with those things after dinner. And so we went outside in the patio area and did just that. Ahh who needs toys anyway right? Next thing you know I will be teaching him pick-up-sticks LOL LOL. or kick the can LOL. Hey I KNOW we didn't have Octonauts or Dinosaur Train or Tumble Leaf when i was growing up. Tonight we didn't watch any of those. I got Johnnie to watch TANGLED again. I love that movie. And that main song "I see the light". Anyway I got him occupied enough again so I could finish my 11,100 steps for the day. I had been stuck at 4000 by the time we left for dinner. But I sure made up the rest in a real hurry. Who needs to go outside and walk. And then I watched the end of the movie with him. He wanted to watch Lego videos too but by the time the movie was done it was already time to go to bed. And so it was that Johnnie closed his eyes, and we both touched his wishing rock... the stone he brought back from Hawaii. And he wished that Fuzzy would have a nice birthday tomorrow.  Last night he wished that Fuzzy would come to life. I didn't know how to address that one. But the good day tomorrow was simple enough. And while my own eyes were closed, i wished for a good day for he and I too.