A Visit North: Tutor Family

Several weeks ago, I received an unexpected text. Judy, Jarrod's mom, asked if we were still in the area. Jarrod, the boy I used to tutor, wanted to check in. She said he wanted to say "Thank you," etc. 

How many times have you wanted to say something to someone buy never did? I wanted to give Jarrod a chance at closure, so Shane and I met them at sweetFrog. 

Shane had a chocolate mustache by the time they arrived!

Judy, Jarrod, Shane and I hung out and talked for a little bit. Jarrod was taller and still a Cowboys fan (bah!). He's in to political science now and got a job teaching soccer to kids for the summer. Shane regaled us all with tales of tornadoes and how to eat ice cream before I gave him my phone.

After we talked for a bit, Jarrod gave me one of the coolest thank-you presents ever: His copy of The Essential Calvin and Hobbes.

And the inside was autographed!

Very, very cool. I love Calvin and Hobbes. I plan on reading those with Shane when he's older. Jarrod had already heard about Hobbes and Bacon, too. They gave us a light stick and a pocket monkey tool, too.

I enjoyed tutoring. The extra income was nice, but what I really enjoyed was a chance to make a difference. Apparently, God used me to do that and it felt great. 

Screen Captures and a Cameo

I turned on the motion controls and figured out how to take screen captures on my phone. It's relevant because I got a random text from my tutor family.

It would have been my rights to say "no" since Jarrod was teaching Shane how to say "Go Cowboys!" 

The Things I Do To Take These Classes

Today was one of those super busy days. A day where every time one task finished, it was time to move on to the next one.

I picked up Shane early from day-care, so that we could go get Subway and diapers before I had to go to class. Carrie works late, so I hired the kids from my tutor family to watch Shane. The mother has watched Shane for us, but I've never let Shane with her kids before.

I was a little nervous.

I do like how things have come full circle: I taught the eldest daughter math my first year at my school, and now she's babysitting my son. Jarrod, my tutor buddy, was there to help too, and he's going to be in charge on Wednesday. The family has a high-energy level that reminds me of my house growing up. I really like them all and I enjoy being around that kind of energy. I did not want to answer to Carrie if Shane got knocked over by one of their dogs or came home with a bruise, though!

I checked my phone throughout class, but I did not call or text to check up on things. I can tell when I'm worrying for no good reason It doesn't mean I can immediately stop the worrying, but I know better than to act on it! Class ended a little late and I jumped in the car to pick up my boy.

Jarrod caught me completely by surprise. He taught Shane a new trick.

"Go COWBOYS!" Shane said.

Jarrod beamed.

I'd have to kill him if the situation wasn't so funny. I'm dressing Shane up in burgundy and gold for retaliation tomorrow!

Tutoring

Did I mention I'm tutoring again?

My tutor family asked me to help their boy get through the 4th quarter. I really like the kid and the family, so I would've done it for free.They insist on paying me and it's good gas money, so who am I to argue?

The kid has basically pulled himself together since I've shown up. He likes me, but he doesn't want to need a tutor. I told him that there were no hard feelings if he wanted to get rid of me. I told him to "get his act together, pull his grades up, and prove he didn't need me."

He's taken the motivation and seems to be running with it!

I'll probably only need to show up a couple of more times this year. It's a little bittersweet I want to see him succeed, but I'll miss the side income and the making a difference when he doesn't need me anymore!

I will also miss the connection to this family. I taught the daughter's math class my first year at my school. I made an impression then without knowing it! Both of the boys were on the same team as me in 7th grade, and I've bumped into the mom at school on parent nights and the like. Outside of school, the mom and daughter watched Shane when Carrie and I had the home inspection of our house that was not to be.

Moving forward, I'm not sure how much longer I'll have this job, but I'm glad I had the chance to do it.

Wacky Day for Child Care

Carrie's out of town for the weekend, so I had to get a little fancy with child care.

I could have asked my parents to take Shane today. I did not want to. They already agreed to take Shane for 3 days this week (the normal Monday & Wednesday plus a bonus Friday). If I asked for four days of child care, I would've felt like I was pushing it too far. Nana and Pa have been very generous with their time, but I don't want to overload them or burn them out on my boy.

Thus, creative.

The first half of the day was covered by my tutor family. Have I mentioned I love them? The mother quit her job and is in the process of looking for another one. That may come quick, it may not, but it meant that she was at home during the day and she would probably be interested in saving money. I asked her if she would like to trade tutoring for child care.

She was thrilled. I heard her excitedly telling her oldest daughter "Guess who's coming by tomorrow!?" She's a kid person and Shane's a cute kid. There was no crib at my tutor family's house, so I only asked them to cover from 9-12.

When I dropped by to pick Shane up, there must have been six neighborhood kids all sitting in the entrance hall with Shane, the mother, and two of her kids. I was greeted with cell phone pictures of Shane riding their dog like a horse, staring into the camera, and a very happy (but tired) boy. Apparently, whenever the daughter babysits, she likes to bring her wards to her house. There's already a playground next door, and when kids show up, more neighborhood kids show up and "they start to all entertain each other!" I had to smile. It reminded me of how my own home could be a fun-house as more and more kids gravitated to it.

Shane was snookered and fell asleep minutes after we pulled away.

Now, my original plan was to take off the second half of the work day. Did you read the post about my family emails? Megan sent me a text in the morning saying "Hey! I'm off work at 11:30. Do you need babysitting?"

Yes, yes I did. Talk about good timing, Megan!

Megan arrived a little after 12:30, we talked, and then I got to go back to work for my Department meeting. I would've gone home soon thereafter, but there was another meeting with the grade level collaborative teams right afterwards and then there was a big group picture after that! It's funny how much errata gets packed in to the first week of school that's not room preparation or planning. If Megan hadn't texted, I would've had to use up hours of leave I would rather save for when I'm tired or in a pinch. Thanks, Meg!

It was nice coming home and catching up with my sister, too. Since Carrie's gone, the conversation is appreciated. Dan got home and it was a regular party for a while. I seem to always have more energy when people are around nowadays (witnesses!) and that energy translates into more giggles from Shane.

After Megan left, I got a call from Kathleen. She wanted to know if I wanted any child care on Saturday!

Yes, yes I do. I guess I will make Muay Thai this week. Plus, I want to catch up with Ka and show her my house.

It's funny how I was crossing my fingers and praying for things to work out yesterday, and now I'm up to my neck in childcare. I texted Carrie "Thanks for all your birthday presents! I cashed in on the child care, ha ha!"

I'll have to return the favors later. The twins' birthday is right around the corner!

I love tutoring

Tuesday was business as usual for me at tutoring. I came, I worked, and then...then the unexpected happened. I got a Christmas gift! There was dark chocolate, P.F. Changs gift cards, and a card offering a free night of babysitting!

Have I mentioned I really like the family I work with? If not, I want to mention it right here, right now.

Tutoring is a job yet a hobby for me nowadays. The money is nice, but it's mainly just going into savings or Carrie going fan girl and buying a Bazinga! shirt. After a week of dealing with kids with extreme academic difficulties crowded en mass, legal papers, and upset parents, it's nice to work with a single, bright kid, and a nice parent. The kid actually reminds me of myself in regards to many of the things he struggles with. He's ADD, unorganized, and apathetic. He does like success, he's got a good sense of humor, and after some initial resistance we bonded and crap gets done. I've even forgiven him for being a Cowboys fan! Ha! I feel like I'm making a difference. That's more than I get from work most days where I just feel rushed to get everything done. It's great to just focus on one student and make an impact.

That is all for tonight. I need to go try and fix my computer so I can write longer posts and upload some Shane-annigans. I didn't get a chance last night with coming home at 5:45 and then having to rush Carrie to an urgent care, but that's another story. Life is definitely busy and exciting.

13 Days Later...

I have survived another two weeks. Wednesday was the watershed "field experience." That's teacher code for "we're going on a field trip, but not really because we're going to make the kids work some." I suppose 'experience' makes the trip sound more meaningful and learn-a-riffic. Personally, I'm a-okay with anything that mixes up the daily routine. It was a lot of work, and we got rained on for the last twenty minutes, but breaking the daily grind was priceless. I would've shown up to work sick and vomiting to make the trip and then used sick leave for the day after.

After the trip, as I was cold and wet and supervising kids, I had a craving for a drink Carrie fixed for me yesterday: Irish Coffee. Coffee is the devil, but the Irish make it in a way even I'll drink it! Specifically, when I'm cold, wet, and tired. I would've loved one in that cafeteria...especially because I was out of my true love: tea. Don't worry, tea.  I haven't forsaken you..., but I may be adopting a special coffee for special occasions. Carrie's thrilled she finally got me to admit to liking a coffee. She made homemade cream and she made one for her mom yesterday to show off how she converted me to the 'dark side.'

It's been a while since I updated, so I guess I'm going to do a 'bullet dump.' That's where I throw up a 'click to read more' and drop a bunch of bullets about random crap that's been going on the past 13 days so that no one has to read it unless they click.

A few thoughts

The current CEO of HP, Leo Apotheker,  is getting fired to the tune of $7 million in cash and $18 million in stock options. His annual salary was supposed to be $1.2 million, plus he got a $4 million signing bonus.

Now, I'm not saying that a good CEO doesn't deserve a healthy sum for running a successful company. Their success will translate to success for the company's employees and their customers.

I am saying that I wish I could get fired for over 20x my base rate of pay. Seriously? The guy must have had some insane contract. For 20x my salary, I'd quit my job tomorrow and take a week long cruise to celebrate losing it. Then I'd look for a job in another county and hope to get fired from that too!

Second thought: tutoring rocks!  The family I'm working with fed me pizza last week, and then it was spaghetti and meatballs and roast beef tonight. Back To School Night is much better when I'm not stuck at work for 3.5 hours of downtime and a commute that doesn't make going home to rest an option. Instead, I drive over to work tutoring for an hour, spend an extra half hour working and talking to the family so I don't feel guilty about eating their food, and then drive back to work to take care of business there. I'm pretty committed to making sure this family gets their money's worth out of me.

Third thought: I wish my commute home at 5 o'clock was as fast as my commute home at 8:30 PM. An average speed of 60 mph is much nicer than an average speed of under 20 mph.

Fourth thought: I've posted three times in three days. See you next month?

Of Tooth and Tutors

Shane has not one, but TWO teeth. They're front and center on his bottom gum line. Neither one is a "white monolith" yet, but they at least count as sharp protrusions. I can run my finger over them and there's absolutely no doubt. Last Thursday, the doctor noticed the first one while Shane was getting his vaccinations. The second one appeared shortly thereafter. I'm just glad the little incisors are here. I relinquish my title as the "father who called TOOTH!"

Carrie objects to one of the findings at the doctor's office. The nurse weighed Shane in at 20.5 pounds, measured him at 27 inches long, and then found his head circumference to be something like 45 cm. Shane is hovering around the 80th percentile for weight and head circumference, but he dropped from the 80s to somewhere around the 60th percentile for length. Carrie swears that Shane is longer than 27 inches from her own measurements. She thinks he is perfectly proportioned and on track to out-grow his car seat!

I think Shane's getting a little bit of baby pudge. Sorry, son. I'm calling you out! You're by no means a totally tubby baby, but I've noticed that when I try to pull you out of your bumpo seat that your thighs stick and the seat comes up with you. You've also managed to hide scrap of kleenex in a fold of skin between your chin and neck. Then your wrists are starting to look like there are little rubber bands around them that puff out the skin on both sides. Grandma keeps mentioning that she loves and oh so wants to pinch your chubby cheeks too!