Thursday All About Johnnie

So Thursdays are usually all about cramming some learning and lessons for Johnnie in the morning, particularly when school was in session. No different now that it is not. Even when I don't really have anything scheduled for work. Actually that isn't entirely true. I have LOTS of stuff to do both at work and outside of work... as in IRS taxes are due next week on the 15th, 3 months later than usual but I was happy to defer it to as late as possible, knowing I owed taxes to the state. I've deferred lots of stuff actually. And today I got a note from our Compliance Director that I have 20+ policies due for review. That is when I miss Justin because he happily did all that admin stuff. Oh and let's not forget performance evaluations for my crew. More admin stuff. But in the spirit of procrastination, all I cared about this morning was getting some more advanced reading and math lessons in for Johnnie. I cranked up the difficulty and today the LEARNING LESSON for Johnnie was how to deal with his impatience when things got a little more difficult. He had been cruising along with kindergarten level math and reading. Starting last week I ratcheted that up to 1st grade level. The thing was that he handled it just fine, but he did get noticeably frustrated when he didn't get something as fast as he had gotten used to. He was so frustrated he was almost going to cry. But this was a dad lesson to in terms of having to teach him to patience and to not feel like he had to be PERFECT all the time. GOD is he starting to pick that up from his mommy or what? Gonna have to counterbalance that somehow with "He is OK just as he is" stuff. And so for me that was to also get in some fun stuff. 

So yesterday Johnnie was really into all the paper airplanes that we made and flew. What an amazingly simple thing to get him occupied for a good hour or more! Just have a look at the pic of him flying his plane at Mar Vista Park by the kiddie playgrounds. He had asked to take our scooters over there to play in the afternoon and I was only all too happy to oblige. And so we spent more than a half hour just flying planes. We didn't have to buy anything and he had a lot of fun doing this. And when he got tired we scootered on home and he was happy to get another Panda Express dinner tonight. It had been an Eezy-Peezy kind of day and now we were just waiting for Lisa to pick up Johnnie. I expected her to call around 7:30ish and since I actually had been stuck at 2000 steps until 4 PM, I spent the time waiting doing aerobics in the bathroom while Johnnie watched his Octonauts videos. When Lisa did call she was already waiting outside. And apparently she was on the phone with Google fi trying to get SMS texting to work. I had this problem back in the day getting SMS texts to work on the iPhone with certain carriers. The thing was she was on hold for a long time and apparently she had taken off while still on hold. Now they got on just exactly the same time that I was delivering Johnnie curbside. So here's Lisa on the phone trying to talk to a Google help guy, Johnnie trying to get in and apparently she had to be on Wifi to get it fixed. She asked to go inside my apartment to which I replied an emphatic NO. Why not just go home for god's sake? And now Johnnie is crying because in his rush, he had forgotten Fuzzy in my apartment. Only a LISA interaction would create this much drama!!! I went in and brought out Fuzzy so Johnnie wouldn't cry, and Lisa went home and I resumed my peaceful and eezy-peezy existence. Sigh. And now I could go back to procrastinating again LOL.

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.

Whatever I Do is Enough

Maybe it was that video I watched yesterday about one's Shadow Self... one that we all have. In the video, the distinction was that instead of avoiding the Shadow Self, the healthy path is to embrace and acknowledge it and to find avenues through which the lower vibration energies and actions can be expressed without repression. Maybe that was what I was feeling this morning when I could sense an anxiety for which there was no real reason other than some urgency I am foisting on myself. This, in turn, led to a lack of patience. Maybe that's what happens on autopilot, which is why I turn negative towards others. Maybe that is how I lose compassion and empathy is that I get stuck in this lower vibration. The key, obviously, is self-awareness and to train myself to shift into observer and learner mode. And ask this Lower Self what it wants. Attention? Is it merely playing out some program that is old and outdated and needs to be replaced? I remind myself that Superheroes have their dark sides too. Their human side.

And so I DID manage to get some internal work done and set out the intention of observing that Shadow Self of mine whenever it came up. I knew it would happen at some point while I was doing homeschooling with Johnnie. Yes I know he's supposed to be in summer school mode but while I'm supposed to be at home working, I need to occupy him with stuff. And I thought I did a pretty good job last week doing that. Today I did a little review of the stuff we did last week and then I did the same online stuff I was already using on Johnnie with one exception. I ramped up his level from Kindergarten to 1st Grade. He graded at that when I gave him a couple of assessments last week anyway and so I figured we'd just keep on going. He's already doing double digit addition and subtraction and he did read a couple of small books all by himself. Might as well keep him sharp, none of us knows when school is going to open again. I mean it is supposed to be next month but the way coronavirus has started to rage again, you never know. Candidly, it isn't the academics and learning opportunities that Johnnie will miss out on. It's the social skills he gets to learn by being with his peers that I am primarily concerned about. The academic stuff, he'll already get down with no problem. As I said, he's already ahead of his age level. But since I am not as good at socializing as Lisa is <one of my dark side things I need to work on>, I don't readily seek out parents with kids Johnnie's age, particularly around my own neighborhood. And so I am dependent on Lisa for all that stuff. In the meantime, I have all that stuff for work that I did NOT get to yesterday that I was hoping to do today. Most importantly though, I also read that the Spanish secret for lowering one's blood pressure is: a nap of about 20 minutes around lunchtime. And so I kept Johnnie busy with Bookflix stuff while I knocked off for those 20 minutes and I must say it does make you feel better doesn't it? Makes you ask yourself why you weren't doing this before?!!

Anyway this being Tuesday and with nothing on my calendar 4 PM came soon enough and with that the Johnnie urging to go out riding on our scooters. Well of course we have to ride... it's been more than a few days.  And I gave Johnnie his money's worth. We rode for at least a couple of miles. So much so that Johnnie was pretty tired by the time we got close to home. Tired enough where he asked to take a quick break and sat there on the curb. He did NOT fall once though and by the time we got home he was hungry. I told him we were going to do Italian sausage night since we hadn't done it in a couple of weeks. That plus the rest of mom's penne pasta in chicken broth made for a good dinner for him. And he ate it all up too.  As for me, i had a lot of leftovers. I made a nice shrimp and spinach yakisoba for lunch and I didn't finish it all. Who could finish a half a pound of shrimp? And the rest made for a decent dinner. I did manage to get the most important thing done for today knowing full well I had a lot of other stuff to do. The funny thing was that it no longer seemed all that urgent to me. Must be all that embracing of the shadow stuff I've been doing. I do realize that all anxiety comes from one's own head. Which would make it up to me whether I get anxious or not at all. For today I simply decided that whatever I got done was enough. And that I was pretty good at getting myself up to speed anyway. Case in point... I hadn't done the assigned and mandatory QHC staff training yet and it was due way back in March. The day we were all sent home. Clearly I had other pressing things then. But it has now been almost 4 months and I needed to knock it off once and for all. THAT i got done tonight at last. Even with Johnnie in the house looking for me every 15 minutes to share the latest Octonaut adventure. It's all I need to do for him you know. Just be present whenever he looks for me. THAT is enough. How do I know that?  "Ahhh this is the life", I heard Johnnie say as he drifted to sleep. I really didn't know exactly what he was referring to. It could have been any of a dozen things he did today. But I do know that with those dozen things, i was there with him. And so I smiled and answered mentally: Yes Little bug, it is. It most certainly is.

Back To Work

One thing I can say about this past 3-day weekend was that I did not once think about any work stuff. That's good right? Except that now, I am back to work and I'm starting to stress about all the stuff I DIDN'T get to. I can make a list of them here but instead, I did manage to quiet my mind down this morning and do some pretty well focused meditation. After all, I reminded myself that the reason I'm stressed is because of a fear of loss of some kind. Loss of my job, loss of security, when instead I should be focusing on providing massive value regardless. I am GOOD at what I do and I need to anchor on that and just flick off all these tasks like I've been doing forever.  I posted a pic of the Monday morning Huddle if not just to remind myself that I am back at work. Hard to distinguish, now that I don't go in to the office actually. I got my meditation down and did those Nitric Oxide exercises for the first time in a while.  I reminded myself to do that since my resting heart rate is back up to 73 today, which is an indicator that something is elevating it. I enjoyed being below 70s for a couple of months. But now it seems like I'm stuck back at 70-71 and even going beyond that. It started doing that when I got those muscle aches in my legs. But then again I also started today with about a 20-minute aerobic exercise routine too. Gonna knock off 11,100 steps today easy. As it was, the Huddle took longer than usual, but still got done by 11:30. I had nothing to update actually, but I was thinking that with the coronavirus cases spiking all over again here in LA, which is probably a good indicator that we dropped our guard too soon or opened up places too soon, that pushes as out yet another few months before we even BEGIN to think of coming back to the office. THIS is the normal now and will continue to be for a bit.

For lunch I tried to replicate one of my favorites from Crimson, where I hadn't eaten since stay-at-home started mid-March. I grilled some salmon and put that over white rice and lentil soup. Mmmm. My version was not bad at all to tell you the truth. Perhaps even better than Crimson's LOL. Later on I took a walk to Ralphs to pick up some side dishes. Macaroni salad and not much else. REally I just wanted to walk outside. It had gotten hot again. Not blazing hot, but summer hot. Just as it is supposed to be in early July. On the walk I was recalling a year ago this time. The Clippers had just gotten Kawhi Leonard stiffing the Lakers. At QueensCare, it was Victor's last week and my team was scrambling to transition stuff and I was working with HR to get him replaced. A year later and I have to say I think it fair to say he isn't missed that much, which is a pretty big surprise to me, and maybe a testament to the job myself and my team are doing. And a year later we're just basically settling in from the urgencies of the last couple of months and we did just fine. Got a lot of timemarkers coming up too, but I'll remember them when they come up. Tonight, it's just Monday night waiting to pick up Johnnie after 5:30. I was actually doing a Paycom mandated test on infectious material handling when Lisa called. Johnnie knew it was time to go to dad's. And I came by to pick him up and his scooter. He had had a pretty good weekend at the Elams. But even Lisa had mentioned this was pretty much as much as she could handle. No control when you go over there you know LOL LOL. Still Johnnie and i took off to start our week together and of course it had to start with McNuggets for dinner for Johnnie didn't it. Except that it wasn't enough. He ate almost 2 bowls full of the leftover penne pasta in chicken broth Lisa handed me when I picked him up.  It was a lot. Not anymore. Johnnie ate up most of it. And a good thing I had it too.  And of course he had to conclude the evening with his Octonauts. At least Lisa knew about them if not watching them on Netflix. I'm sure Johnnie missed watching them the last few days. And so as it was I didn't really attack work today with the urgency that I felt feeling like I was behind. I'll still get them all done somehow. I always do.

A Really Crappy Golf Game

And so the obvious negative consequence of not getting to sleep until 3 AM last night was that I woke up tired this morning. What the heck did I expect not even getting 4 hours of sleep? Not only was I tired, I couldn't focus. And so I should have expected that I was not going to have a good golf game. But I did not expect to have the WORST game I've had in over a year though. There was no sugarcoating this. I even tried to cheat on some holes. Many holes. It did not help. Even Greg and Scott and Chris just sort of let me have do-overs and mulligans feeling sorry for me no doubt. My first shot off the tee went straight down the fairway right down the middle. And that would be the last good shot I will manage to hit the entire fucking morning. Every hole was a nightmare. Hole 2 I whacked my tee shot right into the grass. Couldn't find my ball so I had to drop. Hole 3 I yanked it to the left from the tee so bad it went past the fence. And then I overhit it from there. I just simply didn't have any control at all today, not that that was ever my strong suit anyway. I had a decent tee shot on Hole 4, but followed it with 2 whiffs in a row <sigh>. On the short Hole 5 everyone hit the ball right in front of the tee. Except me. Mine hit a tree. And I got to where everyone was a shot later. And on Hole 6, I managed to keep the tee shot in, but under the trees. I whiffed twice more on the fairway. It was like my hand-eye coordination was completely out of whack. On Hole 7 I finally managed a 6. And tied for the hole but I had a drop so it actually was a 7, but they gave me a mercy tie. On Hole 8 I dropped it in front of the green, but hit it short after that. And on Hole 8, I had decent drive from the tee, but kept hitting it to the right of the entire hole the rest of the way. I was so dispirited by this point I just wanted the game to be over and I can regroup. I was more embarassed for myself than anything and that doesn't happen often. I was so stunned at how badly I played I drove around Pasadena and San Marino for a good half hour, stopping by In-n-Out to pick up lunch before I found myself on the 10 Freeway to drive home. 

The crappy game stuck with me in the afternoon too. I just crashed on the couch, ate my burger, and turned on the latest Netflix binge watch to get my mind out of that shitty game I played. That would be Warrior Nun. When I finally tried to think through what happened, I concluded it was a combination of being tired from having stayed up really late the night before, AND not getting relaxed enough. I was rushed the entire damn game. I was hacking away like I had never played golf before. Never getting settled enough to hit a clean shot whenever I was on the fairway. The last time i played like this was the day I had Bells Palsy and I tried to play Roosevelt. But I had an excuse then. Maybe it wasn't such a good excuse after all. I just had anxious energy and THAT is what I need to release and relax from. I had that negative energy at Roosevelt and I had it this morning. I would have remained planted on the couch for the duration of the day, possibly the evening until I got a phone call from Lisa in Newport Beach. She was asking me for a favor... to roll out her garbage cans. I agreed if only to get my ass off the couch and do SOMETHING productive. And actually, that really did get me going. It was already 6 PM but at least I did something for someone. I got her trash cans out and stayed to water her lettuce and the citrus plants. How much did i spend back in the day watering these things. They were badly in need of water too. I thought she had an automatic irrigation system these days? And when I got done, I went to Ralphs to finish off grocery shopping, including getting dinner for tonight. I know I didn't deserve a reward but hey there were all these steaks on sale. And so I picked me out a nice ribeye and that was what I ended up having for dinner. At least I had a decent dinner if not anything else. I barely did laundry and the whites and got them out of the dryer. And then I finished watching Warrior Nun, followed by Snowpiercer, and NOS4A2. Nothing like being in "consume" mode when you're trying to distract yourself from a shitty golf game. Oh well. I will recover tomorrow. At least I had a decent weekend BEFORE this morning. And it wasn't really all that bad. But now i gotta think about work again...

Happy Fourth!

So last night Lisa and Courtney invited me to spend the 4th <today> with them at the Elam casa in Newport Beach. I accepted the invite. I think the last time I was at the Elam's house was Christmas 2018... so it's been a while. It turned out fine then though not without its awkward moments since Lisa and I had just separated months before. And then of course last year on the 4th was actually the last time I remember having a full-on fight with Lisa on their way to Balwan and Sharon's. I was supposed to go too but bugged out because of the fight. Ended up watching a movie actually. And so it was not a quick acceptance on my part. But I also realize this is an opportunity to work on my thoughts and emotions and sort of undo the negative echo of last year. So I did agree to go. And we started this morning with breakfast at Lisa's. And then since Lisa actually scheduled a piano class with Vatche this morning, that means Johnnie and I get to bug out and hang out at my apartment before coming back, meeting up and then heading down to Newport Beach. And this morning he and I actually had to take a shower. He didn't shower last night and neither did I. And so dad and son got cleaned up just as soon as we bugged out at Lisa's and then we dressed up in our July 4 attire for Newport Beach. We managed to have lunch at my house too and so when we got to Lisa's we were actually ready to drive down. It was not even 1 PM at the time. We had talked about possibly Johnnie and I driving down early... but candidly, I needed a nap because of staying up late watching Jessica Jones last night. And Lisa was actually working with her contractor who had come over to do specs for a wait-for-it... outdoor shower. W-h-a-t? I have nothing to say about that one. This from a person who bugs about not having enough money always. Anyway I did go on to take a nice half hour nap. And then when I woke up, i went out to find Lisa taking a nap too. Oh well. So much for leaving for Newport Beach early. As it was we had a little snack first, Lisa making us quesadillas. We were well aware of the Elam's MO of not actually getting to eat dinner until late. Tonight, possibly not until 8PM or later because they do everything from scratch and it takes hours to prepare dinner.  And so the snack hit the spot too. And by the time we left it was actually 3:30 PM already. Still, there was absolutely no traffic on the road. So much so Lisa was flying down the freeway and nearly left me a couple of times. And we got there in less than an hour. It was nice to see Diana and Courtney and they were so eager to see us <actually Lisa and Johnnie and that is perfectly ok> that they met us outside just as soon as we drove up. I downed a beer just as soon as I got there.  And then we caught up, we talked and talked and for me it was like I didn't miss any time with them.  It was all nice and natural and I felt very much welcomed. I always do.  As for Johnnie, look at the pic of him playing with Diana. He was so engaged. Part or me wished it was Lisa's mom Vicky or my mom playing with him but then again this was just as good.  Made me feel good just watching. And you know Johnnie when he starts taking to someone he latches on to them. As far as dinner, we did eat late but at least it was 7 PM and so it was a decent time. Bud was not a raging MAGA-wearing Trump defending blowhard and so when our conversations turned political, it really wasn't too bad. You just know not to engage these Trump supporters anyway. No way you can convince them of your beliefs. We had ribs and corn and salad for dinner. And so we had a perfectly good 4th of July get-together. I took off for home right around 9:30 PM citing an early tee time for golf tomorrow, which was actually the truth.  By then fireworks could be heard outside. And so they took off to watch them too. No fireworks displays mind you, just people blowing them off. And actually, on the drive home, fireworks were bursting EVERYWHERE. And I do mean everywhere. I don't think there was a city from Newport Beach to the Westside where I didn't see fireworks. Yep there may be no official displays anywhere but people are sure lighting it up anyway aren't they. Some cities there might have just as well been fireworks displays with how much fireworks were lighting up the sky. The beach cities, the area around LAX, even near home in Culver City fireworks were going off everywhere. For me I went home and did aerobics. Yep, aerobics. I was not even at 3000 steps when I left the OC. And I was determined to at least get to 10,000 for tonight. I not only got there, I got to 11,000 too and well before 11 PM. I wound down by watching Warrior Nun, the new series on Netflix. Unfortunately damn series caught my attention and I couldn't turn it off to go to bed early like I planned. I looked up and it was already well past 2 AM. Yikes! I've got a golf game tomorrow!!! But I also went to sleep knowing that I had a nice 4th of July and I think I did erase the negative memories of last year.  All good now.

Day Off

I may not have taken many vacations in the last couple of years... but what I used to do was take a bunch of Fridays off here and there. Sometimes I'd play golf, sometimes I'd hang out with Johnnie. It was these 3-day weekends that kept me sane even as I was facing divorce and re-engineering my life.  Today I have off because of the 4th of July tomorrow.  And so I have this nice, neat Friday off without even having to take vacation. I may end up looking after Johnnie for a bit but that's ok. In fact, I thought it would be first thing this morning, but then Lisa's plans were and have always been really flexible anyway and so when she called me to let me know the Johnnie thing wouldn't probably happen until way later as in lunchtime or maybe even after that, I was totally ok with it. What I did instead was make myself breakfast, had a nice mug of Earl Grey, and this feeling like a Saturday and all actually, started to do internal work. <In other words, nothing any different from a usual Friday LOL LOL LOL>

I watched this video from Aaron Doughty about the energy of Money and I realize that I am in CONSUME state mostly and so there is no output of energy for money to come back. Consume state is not just about buying stuff to consume, but also consuming media on TV. What I need to do is shift into CREATE state. I need to manage my energy better in order to manage money and let it flow to me. What IS IT that I need to do in order to fulfill my purpose. In order to help others? What is it that I need to create?  In order to be of service. In order to provide MASSIVE VALUE. I already do this in my job. How can I do it outside of my job and create systems that provide value to others... like Aaron did? At least I am aware that asking these questions and directing them to my Higher Self will help me keep connected AND actually get some meaningful answers. I watched other videos too, as watching on YouTube does help you find others like it. And so it was that I pretty much ended up spending a good part of the day in this state working on my internals. I would have been totally ok to just chill away my Friday like this until Lisa called.

It was already nearly 3 PM when she did. She was bringing Johnnie over and she was inviting me over for dinner when i took him back later on. I didn't understand why she was driving him but that was totally ok. And when she did Johnnie was totally asleep. He had HAD a pretty fun and active day apparently. Doing the water slide with the kids of Blanca her house cleaner. I'm glad any time Johnnie gets to play with other kids. I feel it is important he does that, in order to keep him developed socially at least. And so that he doesn't feel alone as a child. And so instead of watching him for a couple of hours this afternoon, I simply let him sleep. And when he woke up, it was already time to deliver him back to Lisa LOL LOL. When I got there she too was napping. I guess she had practiced the piano for a good couple of hours. And so it was that the dinner she invited me too turned into dinner that I was going to help make LOL. Another Lisa move but that was not meant as a complaint. Just Lisa being Lisa. We actually had a nice dinner... except that I had eaten something strange today that gave me diarrhea. As in I was ejecting stuff from lunch and I really couldn't even enjoy the fish Lisa made for me. Or maybe it was that? Something was strange. I stayed with them until almost 9 PM. And then I drove home and realized that somehow I was still hungry. And so I went to Ralphs and grabbed a quick pizza that I could bake up in 10 minutes. And then popped on my newly garnered membership to Disney+. The Mandalorian couldn't suck me in to subscribe. But today finally I did. Just to watch the filmed version of Hamilton the much acclaimed and popular play. I knew I could download it, but that was ok. I just caved in.  And so it was that tonight I ended up hanging out with Lisa and Johnnie. AND did my Friday night thing watching Hamilton with some pizza.  A win-win-win.  And a nice day off for me.

About 5 Year Olds...

This reminds me of JOhnnie...

1. PHYSICALLY, THEY HAVE A BASIC FOUNDATION FOR LEG, ARM, CORE, AND ABDOMINAL DEVELOPMENT, BUT THEY MAY LACK STRENGTH AND STAMINA.

2. INTELLECTUALLY, THEY OFTEN HAVE A HARD TIME RETAINING BEYOND THREE COMMANDS. THEY ALSO SOMETIMES HAVE A HARD TIME DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THEIR LEFT AND RIGHT.

• Expect them to initially get confused if you ask them to do more than three things at one time. Also initially expect them to have a hard time distinguishing between their left and right when following multiple commands.
• The goal should be to get them to retain three or more commands at once and beyond. We will also help them learn how to perform various left and right combinations.

3. EMOTIONALLY, THEY TYPICALLY FOCUS ON THINGS THAT MAKE THEM HAPPY OR UNHAPPY. THEY ALSO HAVE SLOW BRAKES WHEN THEY ARE EXCITED.

• Expect them to initially lose focus and shut down if they are not happy. Also expect them to hold back if they are not “into it” or get too rough when they are over-excited.
• The goal should be to help them focus even when it’s hard to do so. Help them learn to control their body and their power, especially when they are excited.

4. SOCIALLY, THEY LOVE TO PLAY WITH OTHERS, BUT CAN BE OVER-COMPETITIVE.

• We expect them to initially show weak sportsmanship when they participate in a competition.
• The goal should be to help them demonstrate good sportsmanship such as not cheating, not getting angry when they lose, and not bragging when they win.

Long Weekend Coming Up

Johnnie woke up really excited this morning. I think maybe getting his new gear yesterday (elbow pads, knee pads) had something to do with it. Anyway I posted a pic of him trying to tickle me under the chin with his head. This is his go-to move to "bug" me. I somehow got him to think I was really bugged by him tickling me and with his head yet. I got him to think he wins when he does that. And so I actually invented an endearing move that he tries to do to me as often as he can thinking he was "beating" me. Instead I am actually loving it! And let's not forget that Thursday is fuzzy's birthday. That would be EVERY Thursday. And so Johnnie gave her the treat of building her a cave with my pillows, putting her in there and having her watch Blippi on the iPad. See pic. And so Johnnie got his day started on the right foot. I got us started with McDonald's breakfast, and then my IS Team Meeting which was the last official work act for the week. I did get a whole raft of emails during the day but I had no intention of getting to them. Not today anyway. Yeah I know I know... I now have a ton of stuff to do next week. But instead of worrying about it, I reminded myself of that Tuesday when I got on a huge roll and knocked off a whole bunch of stuff inside of a couple of hours. This would be like that. And I probably will knock off a bunch by early next week anyway. Anyway I juggled the work-then-Johnnie thing all morning long and then I decided we'd get a pizza for lunch. But I wanted to pick up some stuff at Trader Joe's first. I had all intentions of driving there. Johnnie had other ideas. He wanted to scooter over there. See? He was real excited to use his gear. And so he talked me into it. We scootered over there. I worried about the embankment on Palms over the 405 Freeway but he managed to navigate that pretty well and used his breaks pretty effectively. And so it was that we did manage to get the Trader Joe's run in without driving there. And then we drove to Whole foods right after to get lunch... pizza for Johnnie. Salmon teriyaki for me. And I did manage to get him lessons for today. Math from education.com. He read TWO 12-page books on his own. And did a whole bunch of sight word games. I couldn't help but think that if we WERE working like we used to and I was at the FRB, I'd be ticking down the clock as soon as I got back from lunch and maybe even leave by 3 PM. I managed to "work" until 4 PM today. And then I called it a day and Johnnie and I went out with our scooters for the 2nd time. I did the Whole Foods to Navy to Stoner to Mar Vista Elementary route again and then on home after that. That is almost 2 miles and Johnnie now does it routinely. And he did not fall once today, not that I cared anymore because now he was geared up for protection on his elbows and knees. I got him Panda Express for dinner. Yep that would be 3 days in a row. And then we waited for Lisa to pick him up. She called around 7 PM sounding overwhelmed. But I reminded her that I was off tomorrow and she didn't need to finish everything. She could do it tomorrow while I watched Johnnie. This seemed to calm her down some, but she still waited until nearly 8:15 PM to pick up Johnnie. At least by then I had already finished by 11,100 steps. Yep, indoor aerobics taking really small steps. And so I didn't care really. Just a tiny bit annoyed. A feeling I brushed off. We made plans for me to watch him again tomorrow although the timing was flexible. And that was OK with me. I had nowhere to go, nowhere to be. Tonight I finished off Jessica Jones episodes and then slept late. Sigh. I had a nice 8 hours of sleep last night. But I only get to do that when Johnnie is around. Still it's the 3 day weekend and it is officially kicked off...

Balancing Work and Being Dad

And so I bring in a brand new month with a staff meeting at 8:30 AM in the morning. The first day of the month, especially one that starts the 2nd half of the year has me in introspection mode. As in, what did I do with the first half of the year? Not what I wanted based on the intentions I wrote down at the beginning of the year. Although we did have a major world pandemic that sort of shook things up a bit. But as our execs pointed out at the staff meeting, despite historically bad times, we did have some wins. And now that I DO look back at June, I seemed to realize that I did spend the first part of the month dealing with the Bells palsy stuff, and only towards the end of the month did I feel like I got my bearings back. I did have a lot of wins at work. And now maybe I can focus on some personal outcomes that I want for the second part of the year as well. But not today. I'm well aware that it IS a short work week and although I did get work done and I did do the Wednesday last-day-of-the-work-week Daily Huddle, I didn't have much to share. Maybe I did hit a wall a month ago and I'm starting to come back around again. Today I found myself focusing on Johnnie much like I did yesterday... repeating the pretty much the same lessons, and having him do assessments. As far as I think, he's at 1st grade level with math, kindergarten level with reading and language arts. But he's certainly not behind kids his age. Even when I tell him to sound things out and write the words as he sounds them, which means he ends up mis-spelling quite a few words, those are things he will remember in short order as he builds his vocabulary. Today I remembered that my intention was to be a good dad and that means not replaying all that control drama I pulled yesterday with lunch. In fact lunch ended up being the Italian sausage that we didn't barbecue last night and that we did in the middle of the day. I did that AND played baseball with Johnnie. And we had a good time as if it were a late Tuesday afternoon. Not only did he have a good lunch, I threw in some regular sweet sausage too. And we both ate spaghetti and sausage. Mine was mixed together, his wasn't. He ate well anyway. Just look at that smiling face I posted. My son is a BIG CUTIE PIE! Look at that SMILE!

By the time the afternoon had whizzed by and I checked off the Daily Huddle, Johnnie was ready to go scootering around the neighborhood. He did really well yesterday and he himself said he wasn't going to take a spill today, that's how confident he was. I loved it! And so I took us a longer route, going to Whole Foods, then around Stoner to Mar Vista Elementary and then on home. We were literally within 50 yards from the apartment when he didn't notice the raised pavement he was supposed to have slowed or stopped on. He was too busy focusing on me and how he didn't want to lag behind. He took a spill and a fairly nasty one. He scratched his elbow yet again and scratched a small area above his hip. He stayed down too and started to cry. I got him to somehow ride the short distance to the apartment and I patched him up right outside my door. It wasn't actually that bad. Just a pretty nasty scrape on his elbow. I put peroxide on it and then put a couple of Band-Aids on it. And he felt better. That was me being dad. And then I took us to Panda Express Westwood to get the usual Wednesday night dinner. I told Johnnie not to take his time eating though because we were headed right back out. This would be the last time he's going to injure that elbow while riding his scooter. As soon as we finished eating we headed out to Big 5 Sporting Goods on Sepulveda, a few miles away. I didn't even know if it was open. We got there 2 minutes before 7 PM, right before they closed. And within 5 minutes, I had an pad set for juniors. Elbow pads, knee pads, wrist pads... fit for a skateboarder. I should have gotten this much earlier.  And then I had it in my mind maybe the pads I got were too big <they weren't>. And so I kept on driving to Target Culver City at the Fox Hills mall to see if there was a pad set that was better. I knew they would be open. I worried about the contact of course, but then again with the masks on and hand sanitizers, I thought Johnnie and i would be just fine. I did not end up finding pads that were better than what I already purchased. But I did find some shorts and a shirt Johnnie's size that I could not find in Target Westwood last weekend. So I picked up some of those and then went on home. It took less than 10 minutes to get home on the 90 Fwy. And we were home before 8 PM. Just enough time for Johnnie to watch a few more Octonauts videos before it was time to get ready for bed. "Universe, he said. I wish for really good dreams tonight" while clutching his wishing rock (some pebble he brought back from Maui). Me too Johnnie. Me too.