Dinner helper

I've been working on a big project at work, which – very unusually for me – has had me working extra hours at home some evenings trying to catch up. I guess maybe Reed has noticed? 

Last night as I was working an extra 1.5 hours at home after working all day, he came up to the office and started asking questions about what I was working on (at that moment, our agency's annual report, another publication, and the huge website overhaul). He even seemed genuinely interested. Then he asked what was for dinner and I told him tortellini soup ("soup" is a bit of a stretch – it's chicken stock and frozen tortellini, that's it – but it's one of his favorite meals). He said he'd make dinner. And he did! 

What a great feeling!

What?!?

This morning during our annual Turkey Trot walk, Amy was chit-chatting away about everything comic book-related. She said the Justice League director was a bad person because he cheated on his wife "FIFTEEN TIMES!" Reed didn't miss a beat, he said "Meh, those are rookie numbers." WHAT?! We all LOLd.

Guest post from Dad

As a wonderful 12 year old girl, Amy has fully embraced the idea that Dad is always wrong. Whether it is my handwriting on the family wall calendar or the level of sunlight during the daytime. She loves to point out my every little mistake like using the black marker on the calendar (black means the whole family) for an event that is only Mom and Dad (blue and orange). It is totally age appropriate for her to not let anything go and she excels at it. If I say I am 5 ft 8 1/2 in tall she will say, "No... uh.." Then she's not sure what to say, she just knows that I am wrong! Other times I'll say the clouds look white and she'll say, "No, the clouds aren't white they are off white with blue peaking through." Amy is never mean about it or condescending, she just says declares my error and makes a correction. It happens like 10 times a day! Mostly I need to just keep my mouth shut.

Reed, who just turned 15, is starting to struggle with social anxiety. In freshman English they do what the school calls a socratic seminar. The kids basically talk about a topic and the grading is based on their level participation. During the first 2 seminars Reed literally said nothing and earned grades of zero. Lara and I met with the teacher and counselor. Reed now participates in smaller seminars with few numbers of kids and some kids he is more comfortable with. His grades have been good in these smaller groups but we don't have a sense of how much he is really participating. Tonight, Reed and I went to Chick-fil-A for dinner. The deal was that he had to order the meal for both of us. This scared him to death. He admitted that he was afraid of messing up. We stood in line for about 10 minutes until he would only go to the counter with me standing right next to him, prompting him. He did the ordering and I am very proud of him, but he needs a lot of practice and to face his fears. In hindsight, this anxiety is probably why he doesn't go out for sports/activities and why he won't ride bikes to the store with his friends. We need to parent him better to give him tools to face his fears, put him in situations to practice social contact and be successful.

Love you both. Dad

Happy #15 Reed-o!

Baby Reed is now 15 years old. Fifteen! I swear I was just 15 a few minutes ago. He's celebrating his birthday tonight the same way he has for the last several years, by going to the movies with his best pals. We think he really looks forward to this celebration all year, keeping a close eye on the movie release dates so he'll know way in advance what movie they'll go do. They've gone to the Alamo Drafthouse the last couple of years so they can eat during the movie, and they also always have a great time goofing around outside the theater. So glad he's got good friends to celebrate with him!