Charlie The Navigator
This morning Charlie and I were outside waiting for his bus, as usual. And it got to be late, then later, then – “Ok, I’m calling dispatch, ’cause it is like way late now…”
It turns out that the main road the buses are dispatched onto before heading out to their routes was basically a parking lot due to an accident or something, and it was going to be at least another 20 minutes before the bus got there. So I decided just to drive Charlie to school, which was cool. I had somewhere I had to go after he left, anyway.
So we headed out, and I realized I had to go on the same road that was basically a “parking lot” to get him *to* school. I was a little bit worried, but I figured the traffic wouldn’t be a dead stop going both ways, and I was going the opposite direction the bus would have been, so figured it would be fine.
So I headed to that road, and on the way I passed an interstion of a road which, in the past, I had suspected would be a “short cut” to Charlie’s school. But I’d never had time to really go exploring, so I didn’t know for sure. But as we passed the intersection, Charlie said, “Mommy, you’re going the wrong way. That’s the way to school – you passed it!” Aha… so that is a shortcut from our house when going that direction after all!
The next intersection was the gridlocked one in question, and wow – it was a parking lot BOTH directions! So I turned around and headed back to the street Charlie told me to turn onto and headed that way. When I got to the street his school was on, I wasn’t sure if we were to the left or the right of it at that point, thus didn’t know which way to turn. So I just asked the six-year-old navigator which way to go.
He said to turn left, and he’s always been good about knowing what city we’re in when we’re out & about and when we’re close to Donna’s house, etc., so I decided to believe him. Plus, he had been that way before on the bus, and I hadn’t – so it made sense he would know.
And he did! It was so cool, because he was so proud of himself. Thanks to him, we got him to school on time (a little early, even) and he had the best day at school! He was telling his one-on-one aid about how he knew the way to school and told Mommy and everything and just seemed so happy and proud.
When he came home, his daily report showed that he had had a really good day at school. Maybe I should set up little easy-to-win challenges for him in the morning from now on. Just to get him feeling good about himself and excited about the day. It certainly seemed to make a difference today.
Plus, I was really impressed he directed me to school! We probably would have sat in traffic for at least a half an hour if it weren’t for him being aware and knowing how to get to school. I was proud of him!
The Blog Is Back
I’m still working on the re-design, but I’m happy enough with it to get it going again! So there’s no putting it off – Time to get blogging again!
Last night I was supposed to go see my friend Brad play piano at Studio Seven in Seattle. I was really looking foward to it for several reasons, the biggest two being that I’ve never seen him perform before and this was the only night Donna could babysit Charlie for the whole holiday season, and I wasn’t going to get to go out at all otherwise.
So I was very happy yesterday to be going out – made my preparations, wore a brand new nice sparkly outfit, all of that stuff. Took Charlie to meet Donna at Chuck E Cheese in Bellevue at 4:15, and the traffic wasn’t even that bad getting there – so far…… But then….
I wanted to be at the club when they opened at 5:30 so I could hang out with Brad a bit then see him play when he went on. He was the first one on at 6:00 p.m. (It was a Starbucks showcase of several different musicians), so I absolutely had to be there by then.
So dropping Charlie at 4:15, I felt pretty good about being at the club between about 5:30 and 5:45, even with Friday night traffic (it’s normally about a half hour drive or less with no traffic). But it was not to be. My entire evening took place in my car!
Stalled vehicles and other problems on I-5 in Seattle caused severe problems on both 520 and I-90, and I spent TWO HOURS in my car on the freeway and never got out of Bellevue. I literally got on the freeway at 4:15 and got off the freeway at the very next exit 2 hours later. Thus missing the performace.
I was supposed to be back to pick up Charlie by 7:15, so I couldn’t even go to the club and see any of the other performers either. I drove back to Chuck E Cheese, picked up Charlie, and drove home in terrible traffic. Not the evening I had planned!
Fortunately Donna has said she can babysit on the 20th, and I have a few different things I can do that night, so the entire holiday party season isn’t a bust! And I’m sure I’ll get to see Brad perform at some point. If you’d like to see him play, he has a video up on YouTube here.
Other than that, I’ve just been working hard – Business has been steady, if a bit slow. Fortunately my hosting sales have been good, which is something I’m really working on increasing. I really like that aspect of it, and my customer service skills are really a big part of why people choose me for hosting over some big company. It’s high-quality hosting and the servers are not “oversold,” so it’s a really good choice for WordPress installations. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a sales pitch, but if you’re interested in hosting, here is my hosting sales page: Blog Solace Web Hosting
Charlie is doing ok in school but still having a lot of problems. I’m encouraged by the attitude of his new teachers and prinicipal, though. And he has an appointment at Children’s Hospital in January (finally) for further neurological testing, so hopefully that will help narrow down what his actual probelms are and the best way to help him.
Other than that, I’ve just been using Twitter a lot. I realized I was Twittering so much, I might as bring back my blog. So I did! That badge in the upper, right-hand corner has my most recent “Tweet” in it and links back to my Twitter updates. Add me if you Twitter!
