Big Bro & Take Your Kid to Work Day

Today was Take Your Kid to Work Day at Dada of Ma'at's work. I wasn't there, but here is what I gathered from stories from Dad and Big Bro.

Big Bro was so excited he was practically giddy. He ran right into the building where he got his badge (it's a secure building), a goodie bag filled with swag, and a rubbery, squishy sunshine that looks part stress ball, part yo-yo. From there they got their breakfast in the cafeteria. Big Bro kept calling it his favorite birthday pie, aka apple pie. It wasn't really pie, but it was a pastry. He ate his treat in Dada's office with his artwork that he made as a backdrop. He did some of the mazes found in an activity book from his goodie bag.

After breakfast Big Bro and Dada went to the Science Room. First they played with a giant air bazooka made from a 5 gallon bucket to make paper cups fly around.Then they saw the Efficiency Vermont booth where they had lots of different kinds of lights for the kids to see and switch on and off.

Then "Firedog" (a man in a fire dog suit) was walking around. Big Bro had been running around giddily since he arrived. He was so excited he went right up to Firedog and gave him a high five.  Then they played some of the 9 hole mini golf course was set up on the other side of the cafeteria.

Next came bottle cap art. It was quite a cool idea to use different colored bottle caps to make a pretty picture of a flower. Big Bro was very excited that he "got to glue stuff!"

After a quick trip back to the office, Dada and Big Bro went outside to see a firetruck and a police car.

As we were preparing Big Bro for going to work with Dada we pointed out that it would be a lot like one of his books, "Caillou Goes to Work." In the book 4 year old Caillou goes to work with his mom for the morning. At one point the phone rings and the mother says the phone is for Caillou. It's Daddy calling to say hello!

Coincidentally, I was waiting in the cul-de-sac to pick up Big Bro and couldn't reach Dada of Ma'at on his cellphone like I normally do, so called his work phone instead. The office phone was ringing just as they returned from seeing the trucks. Dada picked up and happily told Big Bro, "It's for you! Just like when Caillou went to work!" Big Bro loved it.

As Big Bro walked out the front door with Dada of Ma'at he looked so tiny, but he was so happy. I picked him up early so we could go to a birthday party at the local arcade. He had a great time at the party, but on the way home he just asked when he could go back to Daddy's work and stay for the whole time. Then when Dada of Ma'at came home hours later he again asked when he could go back to Daddy's work.

I think he liked it!

The funniest part was as he got in the car he told me matter-of-factly "there were a lot of kids there who had to go to the dentist and they have their own dentist there."

Dada of Ma'at and I were both bewildered until Dada realized he was actually referring to the long line of kids waiting to get their faces painted!

Work/Family Balance

I am a stay at home mom. That is established. I stay home with the kids while my husband goes to the office for work. Between the hours of 8am and 6pm I am a playmate, a teacher, an entertainer, a disciplinarian, a cook, a server, a nurse, a maid, a chauffeur.

Once the kids are in bed I am a blogger for this personal blog, and the BVT Moms Blog. I get to have a voice on motherhood and environmental issues. I get to have a voice in the world outside my home.

As of this January I am also a co-founder of a Vermont chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby (VT CCL). Now I am an organizer and a leader. Someone with a clear stake in starting an organization and making sure it succeeds. It's thrilling and energizing to be part of a "start up" on an issue I'm passionate about. It's outside the mommy box entirely, which is refreshing.

The blogging and the organization start up have to occur after the kids are in bed. Their bedtime has crept back later and later, therefore my prime blogging and organizing hours are often between 9pm and midnight.

It's late, and sometimes when I'm done, I'm buzzing with excitement and it's hard to go straight to bed. After working extra on a particular post or after an exciting conference call about the VT CCL I can be awake until 1am or later trying to settle enough to sleep. The kids always get up at 7 and sometimes earlier than that, which makes for awfully short nights.

What's my work/family balance? I often burn the candle at both ends and sacrifice sleep, as lots of mother/parents do I'm sure. Of course there are nights I crash early or fall asleep as as I wait for my kids to nod off. 

For now, it works. In a year and a half Big Bro will be off to kindergarten and Lil Sis will be entering preschool. That will mean 3.5 hours, 3 days a week to myself when they are both at school. I anticipate that it will feel like a luxury to write and organize during the day.

      

 

Surprise Contact From My Grad School Professor

On Friday evening I got an email from one of the Town Selectmen. He was forwarding an email that was received via the Town's website contact form. The email was from one of my graduate school professors. He had Googled me and found that I serve on my Town Planning Commission. The professor was looking for me because he had "some questions about our past work." He included his email and phone number and requested I contact him.

I was surprised, and a bit flattered. But then I started to panic a bit. What did he want to ask me about? Would I remember anything about it? Could I sound intelligent on the phone even though it's been 6 years since I graduated, and 5 since I worked in transportation planning? I would have to fess up that I, a former "transportation scholar" who received funding from my university to study transportation, was now a stay at home mom in a tiny town and not doing anything transportation related.

"Did he find you on LinkedIn?" my husband asked. LinkedIn is another thing that makes me panic a little. Yes, I joined years ago when I had a professional job, but LinkedIn doesn't serve much purpose for people who don't work for an income. It's a point of embarrassment to think that old colleagues might find me on there and see that I have become irrelevant in my field. Or so my panicked brain told me.

So I emailed him, the phone would be too nerve-wracking, plus it was dinner time here on the East Coast and not far from the kids bedtime either. It was a very congenial email exchange. Turns out my old professor just was looking for a file from that project I had helped him with. Thanks to the never ending storage provided by my gmail account, I still had our original correspondence on the project which included the original database he was desperately seeking. He was grateful to find the database file, and told me about how much his kids had grown and made the usual "it goes by so fast!" kind of remarks. He was glad to see I was still involved in planning. He also mentioned that thanks to a generous donation my school had been renovated from a dumpy little building into something quite nice, and they had a full time staff person to help students and alumni find internships and jobs.

Thanks for the tip, Professor! I just may do that sometime in the next few years. But for now I'm good where I am, despite any insecurities I may have about not having a position in our economic system at this point in time.

 

Me in grad school, wrapping up a conference I organized.

Me in my current job