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lydamorehouseI don't really have anything interesting to say, but as I haven't posted in a while I feel compelled to do so. Besides Mason is sitting next to me at the "big computer" playing his Dr. Seuss video game, so it's kind of nice to hang out together doing computer things.
Tonight we're off to check out Crossroads-Science for a Pre-K program for Mason to start next year. It sounds very impressive to be off to 4 year-old kindergarden, but really it's not. The Pre-K program is set up for people like us who can't afford daycare or pre-school to socalize the kids so they're not behind in that respect once school officially starts. But, Mason is very ready and excited for school. He already has his seat picked out on the school bus: "In the back, by the emergency exit, so I can open it in case of emergencies." I haven't broken it to him that it's usually the trouble kids that sit in the back. He'll figure that out by himself, anyway. The other schools we're looking at are Four Seasons and Farnsworth (the Aeronautic/Space magnet -- just in case Mason is serious about wanting to be an astronaut.)
Anyway, I think he's ready. He's taken a few community education classes during the summer, and even though he was a bit young for those, he enjoyed them tremendously. He had no problem listening to the directions (in fact, watching him play now, I'm impressed that he always waits to hear all the instructions -- even though he's played this a million times -- before doing what's asked of him.) I think the biggest issue is going to be dealing with being one of many. Right now, he's the center of my attention. My little Leo soaks it up, too. I suspect a bit of heartache at not always getting to do everything (or get to answer every question himself) is going to be tough. This is one of the reasons I really hope we can get into Four Seasons. The instructor we chatted with at the Saint Paul Education Expo talked about small class size and individual attention -- plus, she already had one student who was pre-reading like Mason. (He knows a ton of words and loves telling me how to spell things -- this morning he told me how to spell Roo from Winnie-the-Pooh. But, he still mostly guesses and relies on memorization -- someone to help him figure out how to sound words out [besides me, because, of course, we're working on it] would help.)
Otherwise, we went to the Mall of America yesterday to visit their Underwater Adventure Aquarium of which we are now members. Mason was especially thrilled that they have several Wobbegong sharks, a current favorite. We also learned from one of the guides that their gigantic sharks "Jessie" incited a feeding frenzy by attacking one of the other fish swimming in the tank. Apparently one of the guests caught it on camera phone, which I'd love to see.
As for my writing life -- I had several days of zero writing. We had an especially busy day on Saturday -- Mason's dentist appointment (no cavities), swimming class with a treat at Snuffy's afterwards, and then an afternoon at Adventure Peak/Edinburgh Park visiting Shawn's work colleague and friend Richard who was in town from Arizona. Mason had a blast, but it was wicked busy.
Shawn and I have been talking about why I've been having so much trouble with this book. I think it has something to do with the fact that I suspect that another tragedy looms in my publishing future - I'm going to guess that, despite the relative success of this series, Berkley is going to be uninterested in more Garnetverse books after this one. The reason I guess this is because the vampire paranormal is potentially on its way out. And, plus, I've been burned too many times not to sort of expect if things are going to fail, they will. On top of that a good friend of mine and fellow writer is at the place I was between Apocalypse Array and TDD -- and I'm generally pissed on her behalf. So my heart hasn't really been in this book as much.
*sigh*
Tonight we're off to check out Crossroads-Science for a Pre-K program for Mason to start next year. It sounds very impressive to be off to 4 year-old kindergarden, but really it's not. The Pre-K program is set up for people like us who can't afford daycare or pre-school to socalize the kids so they're not behind in that respect once school officially starts. But, Mason is very ready and excited for school. He already has his seat picked out on the school bus: "In the back, by the emergency exit, so I can open it in case of emergencies." I haven't broken it to him that it's usually the trouble kids that sit in the back. He'll figure that out by himself, anyway. The other schools we're looking at are Four Seasons and Farnsworth (the Aeronautic/Space magnet -- just in case Mason is serious about wanting to be an astronaut.)
Anyway, I think he's ready. He's taken a few community education classes during the summer, and even though he was a bit young for those, he enjoyed them tremendously. He had no problem listening to the directions (in fact, watching him play now, I'm impressed that he always waits to hear all the instructions -- even though he's played this a million times -- before doing what's asked of him.) I think the biggest issue is going to be dealing with being one of many. Right now, he's the center of my attention. My little Leo soaks it up, too. I suspect a bit of heartache at not always getting to do everything (or get to answer every question himself) is going to be tough. This is one of the reasons I really hope we can get into Four Seasons. The instructor we chatted with at the Saint Paul Education Expo talked about small class size and individual attention -- plus, she already had one student who was pre-reading like Mason. (He knows a ton of words and loves telling me how to spell things -- this morning he told me how to spell Roo from Winnie-the-Pooh. But, he still mostly guesses and relies on memorization -- someone to help him figure out how to sound words out [besides me, because, of course, we're working on it] would help.)
Otherwise, we went to the Mall of America yesterday to visit their Underwater Adventure Aquarium of which we are now members. Mason was especially thrilled that they have several Wobbegong sharks, a current favorite. We also learned from one of the guides that their gigantic sharks "Jessie" incited a feeding frenzy by attacking one of the other fish swimming in the tank. Apparently one of the guests caught it on camera phone, which I'd love to see.
As for my writing life -- I had several days of zero writing. We had an especially busy day on Saturday -- Mason's dentist appointment (no cavities), swimming class with a treat at Snuffy's afterwards, and then an afternoon at Adventure Peak/Edinburgh Park visiting Shawn's work colleague and friend Richard who was in town from Arizona. Mason had a blast, but it was wicked busy.
Shawn and I have been talking about why I've been having so much trouble with this book. I think it has something to do with the fact that I suspect that another tragedy looms in my publishing future - I'm going to guess that, despite the relative success of this series, Berkley is going to be uninterested in more Garnetverse books after this one. The reason I guess this is because the vampire paranormal is potentially on its way out. And, plus, I've been burned too many times not to sort of expect if things are going to fail, they will. On top of that a good friend of mine and fellow writer is at the place I was between Apocalypse Array and TDD -- and I'm generally pissed on her behalf. So my heart hasn't really been in this book as much.
*sigh*