It's sometimes tough to balance my two jobs (part time at FamilyLife, full time mommy). I'm so glad I can work from home, but it means that occasionally the two worlds collide. And not in a good way.
I had just gotten Perrin up from a nap yesterday when my cell phone rang. It was someone from work, calling to discuss some details for a training seminar we're organizing in a couple weeks. I sat down at my work computer so I could look over a spreadsheet while I was talking. I figured Perrin would be fine wandering around the house by himself for 15 or 20 minutes. After I'd been on the phone a couple minutes, I heard the pitter patter of his little feet running down the hall towards me. I was still focused on the computer screen, so I didn't bother looking at him until he thrust his hand at me and said, "This! This!" As in, "Look at this, Mommy!" I looked. His hand and arm up to his elbow were COVERED in huge globs of vaseline. I cradled the phone against my shoulder and rushed him into the kitchen to try to rinse it off. But guess what? Vaseline doesn't rinse off. And his icky hand was touching everything within reach. I grabbed about 20 paper towels and began wiping him down, all while trying to continue my conversation in a somewhat professional manner. I had to run back and forth from my computer a few times to answer some questions. By then, the vaseline was all over me, my clothes, and Perrin's hair. I finally got him marginally clean, then I dared to approach the mess in my bedroom. Yep, just as I suspected--vaseline all over the floor. I got off the phone and started cleaning.
Hmm... an office job is starting to look kind of nice again.
Kids have some sort of radar for finding messy things. Mine had a thing for chapstick and toothpaste. We lived in a tiny apartment when S was little so it wasn't as bad, but we did have to put a tension mount baby gate on the kitchen. When J was born we'd moved into this house and we invested in 2 swinging gates, (not cheap, but worth it,) to cordon off the unsafe zones in the house. We kept him out of his big brother's room and out of the kitchen with swinging gates, our bedroom door used the tension gate and we kept the bathroom door closed. Not attractive and totally annoying for big people, but the kids stayed (mostly) safe.
ReplyDeleteAdventures in Mommyhood... You never have a dull moment. :)
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