Day 51

So Wednesday and Thursday were a little tough, making today a much more precious day.

I've kind of settled into starting my work day around 6 or so at home just reading any of the email that came in overnight and getting my day planned, then taking a break at 7 to have breakfast with Zak and Kuba, then getting physically into the office at 8. Unfortunately I had 6 and 7 am meeting on Wed and Thursday this week, so couldn't have breakfast with them. On Wednesday night I had a 10pm meeting with Asia, and on Thursday night I had a business dinner. It wasn't terrible, it just meant that for the last 2 days I didn't have much time with the family.

I did manage to pick Zak up from the daycare on Thursday and spend 30 minutes with him before Kuba came home and I left. I told Zak I was a little sad (I get like that before these evening events.) He said "Awww, your sad? Do you miss your friends?" I guess that is when he gets sad. I answered "No, I'm giong to miss you! But tomorrow you and I get to spend the whole day together!" He said "Yeah, we'll stay home! That makes you happy." I asked if it made him happy too, just to be sure, and he said it did :-)

But Zak let me know this morning that he didn't like it that I wasn't home last night when he went to bed! I was shocked! I was in the shower, and all of a sudden I heard the bathroom door slam open, and a very mad 3 year old standing in the door. He then came over to the shower, pulled open the shower door, and stood there with a very angry look on his face, hands on hips and said "Where were you?!" I've never seen him so angry! I quicklky finished my shower and came out to talk with him. I told him how much I missed him, and asked what he and Tato did the whole night without me. He made me sit in the orange rocking chair and hold him while he talked to me. Very surprising to see him so upset.

We had a good couple hours together after that, and then we had a Tumblebees class. I told him we were going, and he absolutely didn't want to. He got back into bed and said he wanted to stay here, and for me to lay down with him. He was adament about not going, but of course once we got there, he had a blast. I kind of like that he likes being at home, but at the same time, I don't want him to be too lazy. He does so well in the class, and is always bubbling with excitement at the end. By the way, he JUMPED sideways all the way across the balance beam from one end to the other. He's crazy with this jumping.

And here's a shout out to my friend Andy - I was looking around at Tumblebees - 5 daddies there! And 7 moms....that's a great ratio! Andy is one of the few men I know who took a couple months paternity leave...and he was feeling like society just wasn't ready for him :-) He said no moms invited him over for a playdate...but I'm convinced he just wasn't looking in the right places (and of course, his baby was very young at that time...) I know I still see a lot of "Mommy & Me" things...assuming it's always the Mom staying home. But its heartening to see so many men having fun with their kids too.

Anyway, we then went and had lunch with our friend Sara...and now Zak is napping. The rest of the day seems like it should be a great one. I don't feel any need to log into work...things fell into place yesterday for a good close to the week.

I guess there is one work thing on my mind. I get asked a lot to do volunteer activities at work. For example, I lead one of our large training programs, completely on the side of my "real job," which probably averages to a couple hours/week (which is a lot in a 3 day work week!) I get asked to do a lot of "Lunch n Learns", and other side activities. I got asked yesterday if I'd like to start recruiting again at one of our Universities, which I'd absolutely love to do. All of these are good career building things, but they eat up time too. I hate saying "No" because a) you might not be asked again and b) it can actually look bad to say no too often. And it's the first time where I've actually thought twice before just saying "absolutely!" There are things at work that I know I'm not getting done already (albeit, lower priority things)...and so I'm really trying to think through what the appropriate thing to do is. On the one hand, I WANT to do it (it's been so long since I've gotten to work with young university graduates!)...on the other hand, there are other things I still need to tackle without taking on more. I know we all have to deal with this, even with 5 day a week work weeks...I just feel it coming up more and more often these days. I guess, as always, I'll just have to weigh the pros and cons and decide. This is one of those "slower impact" repercussions of working less than full time. I might not fully appreciate the impact for another year or so....

Regardless, it's a beautiful day, and I'm happy to be spending it with Zak!