Take your child to work...

...or not.

My office had a " take your child to work day" yesterday. Most activities were tailored for kids 7-13 yrs of age, but on my admin insisting that it would be " cool" to bring sonali in for lunch, I decided to take her in.

I took her in the morning under the assumption that its only a few hours until lunch and she will be very excited seeing new faces, new gadgets and so on. Everytime I make an assumption about my daughter these days, she finds a way to disprove it. She did very well this time too. To begin with, she would not look at anyone or talk to anyone. A cheerful " hi cutie" was met with a sideward glance in the opposite direction and dead silence. Needless to say, the cheerful HIs stopped after a while.

I gave her a piece of paper and some crayons and put her on a chair near mine at my desk. She was excited and so was I. It lasted for exactly 7 minutes. Then I gave her an unused keyboard and some tissue paper and my daughter got very busy wiping down the keyboard, then my desk, then my mouse, then the keyboard I was using and finally she wanted to clean my nose with the same tissue. No she did not give me a choice.. I had to oblige.

She was bored again after her cleaning spree. So I put the headphones on her and opened a tiny window and started playing some youtube rhymes for her. She sang along with them, without a care in this world. I had to go around apologizing to the folks I share my cube with. Once she figured the headset was too much work and much less fun, she removed it and tried to see if she can break it. So off we went to find something else to do.

I walked around with her a few times, got her back to my desk and put her on the chair again. She stood up in the chair almost immediately , bent down a little and a few seconds later, I heard her voice LOUD and clear : " Amma, Poop". Yes yes, its one of the mistakes of potty training I know!. Anyways, I told not to worry and that I will change her once we get some lunch. She was quiet for a couple of seconds and again went : " Amma Poop, poop, thonu poop ". only louder this time, as if I dint get her message the last time. I think even the guy is the remote corner office heard her.

Now the worst part was that I forgot her diaper bag at home, so I decided to head out and forget lunch. As I was walking out, I saw lunch come in and I was once again coaxed into taking a bite. So I sat there and took the first piece of pizza and started feeding my daughter.

I sat her down in a chair in some empty cube and as I give her the food, she promptly spits it out. As i bend down to clean it, she takes the receiver from the phone and wraps it around herself and starts giggling. She is very surprised I am not smiling at this point, so she does it again to see if I get it this time!!. Then she stands up in the chair and loses balance and starts to fall down. I manage to catch her in time but I could not stop the tears or the loud wailing. Once again the remote corner office guy knows my daughter is hurt.

After some calming down, we go back to eating pizza. This time, she wants to feed herself and since all parenting rules say you got to teach ur kid to be independent, i let her have the plate. She simply took the plate, turned it upside down and dropped everything on the floor. Mommy cleans again, gets a new plate some more pizza and more of the spitting follows. I give up and decide to take her back to her daycare.

As we walk out, she goes : " Poop amma" again and this time also pointing to her back ( Like I dint know where it came from)!! I was so exhausted by noon and felt like I gave birth all over again.

So really, don't let people talk you into being " cool" and bringing your 22 month old to work - especially if it even remotely resembles mine!

Oh and the remote corner office guy is our Vice President. I'll let you know if I have a job on Monday!

Parenting Lesson 102

" When you give a timeout to your child, make sure you give one for your husband "

My daughter has progressed from the no-biting stage to the sure-beating stage. Now that we have taken care of that no-biting thing with Stern NOs and 2 second timeouts, she needs a new way to express her excitement. She decided to start beating. Again, we are the privileged ones for the most part.. but sometimes she has a soft spot for friends of ours she likes and they suffer too:)

The beating is something I really need to control so I get very strict with her. I immediately put her down, keep my face still and give her that Look and say NO. She stares at me for a minute , wondering if I will change my expression and I don't move. As she pouts her lips, her dad comes running to her, swoops her up and starts to pacify her. Worse yet, he also makes her laugh and what does she do again? Yes she gives him a good beating. I don't stop her now because I think this one is worth it!!

If mommy tries to discipline her and daddy comes to her rescue every time,, she is really not going to get anything out of it. Every time I tell her not to do something and she doesn't like it, she will go running to daddy and knows she can get away with it.

So I have decided that every time sonali will likely get a timeout, I will first put my husband to a timeout room and chair and then handle my baby. Preferably lock him in there and maybe even go shopping:) Ok now my evil mind is working.. so I'll stop.

Believe me..

.. when I say that my feet have grown by at least half an inch.

I thought it was a myth when they say that your feet grow during pregnancy ( yeah like every other part of the body growth was not enough for us!!!)... but its sadly true.

I discovered this sometime back but refused to acknowledge it and was able to use some shoes that did not show too much difference between x and x.5.

Today as I was trying to squeeze myself into a pair of pretty shoes that I bought in the yesteryears, I just could not even get my feet into them!!!!. I did not want to admit defeat, so I did wear them and to say I am sorry about that would be an understatement!. I am sitting at work, with the shoes off and every time I want to take a restroom break or coffee break, i keep postponing it. A lesson well learnt for my stubborn self!

So pregnant ladies out there - get a size larger than what you wear currently.. better yet, wait and buy them later.