Seven Years Old!

Happy Birthday to our first-born! Dylan has had many accomplishments this year.  The highlight was playing on a baseball team for the first time.  Dylan continues to practice baseball in the back yard even now in the off season. Dylan also performed in his first piano recital with gusto!  He played one of the hardest pieces that he learned all year and played it with authority.  He has a really good ear and picks up most pieces by ear fairly quickly.  But don't ask him if he likes piano.

Another major accomplishment was learning how to read.  Dylan is pretty proficient but still prefers me to read to him at night.  Over the summer he participated in the county library's reading program and had added incentive from Daddy - read 100 books and you can go to an amusement park!  Dylan went above and beyond that incentive.  His favorites were Hi Fly Guy and Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.  Dylan had a really smooth transition to 1st grade and the 5 day school week.  First grade brought home work for the first time as well as spelling tests.  In a class of 80 percent boys, he enjoys going to school each day and says that school is easy.  We have yet to find an end to his energy and recently Martin explained to someone that Dylan is just so much of an extrovert that he gets more energized by going to school and being around people so school doesn't tire him out.

I know Dylan has grow a bunch this year since he is eating more and his pants don't fit (lengthwise, of course) but we won't get the official measurement until December when he goes for his check up (I called a month in advance and still had to take an appointment 6 weeks after his birthday.)

Dylan has now lost a total of 8 teeth so four more since his birthday last year.  He was without his front teeth for most of the holiday season last year.  He still has two holes on top waiting for the other two top teeth to come in.  

Dylan is still very much into Wii and the Skylanders game that he got last birthday.  He and his friends often pretend play Skylanders.  Dylan has also taken to building things with wood in the back yard and still enjoys climbing trees.  He's all boy.

Last year Dylan asked for a pet.  I told him we could get one when he's seven.  Well, he hasn't forgotten so tonight after dinner at Chipotle (his pick) we will head over to Petco in search of a family pet.  I'm hoping we find something that's not too much work.  Thinking like a fish or water frog or maybe a gerbil or a lizard.  Stay tuned.

License to Consult

I'm officially a business.  I obtained my business license from the town this week.  (Don't get me started on the ridiculousness of the bureaucracy, but I have to mention that I had to get an occupancy permit to sit at my personal computer in my personal house and earn money.)  The license says "consulting."  So feel free to consult me on anything you'd like...:)  I guess I put too many things on the application...wedding coordinating, government contracting, bookkeeping.  I may not be doing as much bookkeeping as soon as I hoped.  I found out recently that I need the equivalent of one year full time experience working in accounting before I can get my CPA license.  And working for yourself does not count.  I need to get that experience in a maximum time period of three years.  In other words, I can't work 10 hours per week for 4 years.  But I may be able to do 10 hours per week for 2 years and then 20 hours per week for 1 year.  So if I'm going to need to do that I'm not sure I can also run a bookkeeping business on the side.  But I'm still feeling like there are lots of opportunities out there.  I may just take a client or two to get my feet wet and then go work for someone else for a while.  But now I have the license to do that.

Of course I may go to work for my former employer for a while too.  My former boss called me about a week ago.  He asked me how I was liking staying home.  After I told him I was enjoying myself, he said, I was afraid of that.  But as long as I have a task that I can do from home I may start contracting back to them next year.  Or I might start getting my experience for the CPA.  Still lots of opportunities.
I'm not bored at home though.  That's for sure.  I've been exercising consistently for about 2 week which is great.  Then I have my class work and volunteering and between those and just the normal day to day stuff, which includes lots of playground time with the kids these days, I barely have time for the projects I've been hoping to get done.  But I do have a little time each week, I just need to be diligent about it.