The new paradigm

What a busy month! Much has happened, along with the promise of much more happening, and it's mostly great.

We got Jordan's Iowa Test scores back, and as we figured, he's doing some work two years ahead of his age level. Math is his area of greatest difficulty: he's only a third of a year ahead in that. But the good news is that he qualifies for entry into the first grade.

He's working now on getting used to awakening earlier in the day. This is the third day of his first week of a special program at Wright State where he gets to do arts and crafts from 9 till 3. Next week, he'll do three hours of soccer camp each day, starting at 9. The week after that, we may give him a break, or not. There are mini-camps of all sorts available at WS, and Jordan loves to do stuff like that. By the end of it, he should be acclimated to the early-to-bed-early-to-rise paradigm.

Of course, with that paradigm shift comes a change to mine. I have time through the day to pursue my own things. That means working and writing. Writing and editing is what I do for work, but writing novels and short stories is what I do for fun, as well as for the occasional penny or two.

My latest effort is set to come out in July 2008. THRIPZ is a revision of my novel that was published in 2004 by ArcheBooks Publishing. It was a nice-looking book, for a hardcover, but now it's a paperback available through Amazon.com for around $7 for a 234-page paperback book, 6x9 inches. I expect to put the PDF and MobiPocket files out for free as I continue the editing on my latest novel and the search for an agent for it.

So where does that leave my baby?

He misses his play time a bit. Not enough time on the Xbox and Flight Simulator to suit him, it seems. Plus he enjoyed his swimming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We'll get back to the swimming lessons once school starts back up, and as for the play time, he'll have to learn to schedule his time better. Today was the first day he didn't start out with a complaint about the recreation issue. So that's progress.

We'll have time going forward to spend quite a few afternoons at Kings Island, a favorite haunt for both of us to get wet and thirsty. Not to mention the Boonshoft Museum and the Wright-Patt Air Force Museum. Gonna work in a few bike rides, for sure, and a few afternoons just chilling with a book or a movie or a game.

Keeping a few math and English pages up for him, making sure he doesn't forget too much of what he learned this year. I'm kind of proud of my efforts to teach him. Granted, he was largely responsible for the progress, his quickness and ability to grasp information are fantastic. I don't know if all children are doing so well these days, but if they are, the world is soon to be in much better hands.