Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Yay me!

I'm working from home today. A shattered one of his molars last night while eating wasabi peas (ouch!), so I needed to keep an eye on R while A went to the dentist. I was more than happy to do it because I would work from home every day if I could. I love getting stuff done for work while being in the comfort of my own home. Plus, there's no commute and I can usually squeeze in some housework as well.

So, today, I've had two conference calls, answered a gazillion questions from my staff over IM, done some of my own work, PLUS I drove A back and forth to his appointment, fed R and me (lentil soup, fresh veggies, and leftover garlic bread for me; peanut butter and honey sandwich, blackberries, and carrots for R), ran three loads of laundry, reserved a place for R's birthday party, read my daily devotional, and I'm now reading for my class so I don't have to do as much reading tonight.

But my favorite part of the day so far was helping R with two projects: (1) modifying his grabby-claw reaching gadget (looks like this) so that he can grip slippery stuff (i.e., train track) with it, and (2) disassembling his Sit-n-Spin so that R could figure out what was making the rolling noise inside it. For the grabby-claw, which R had broken awhile ago and was now missing the rubber parts that help it grip, I cut the fingertips off of a rubber glove and attached them to the claws with electrical tape. For the Sit-n-Spin, R and I carefully removed every screw (and there were tons of 'em), then discovered the track balls inside. R was thrilled because he guessed that there were marbles inside, so he was right! Then, we found out how to pry open the top part where the batteries go. (We bought it from our local thrift store and chose not to put any batteries in - until now.) I caved and agreed to put new batteries in, and the thing isn't nearly as annoying as I expected it would be. It actually plays some interesting tunes - quietly - woohoo! It was so much fun doing this with R, and he gets so excited about it. He thanked me about 10 times for "fixing" his grabby claw.

R and I also had a very interesting conversation about why Charlie's wife in the song "Charlie on the MTA" didn't just hand him a nickel through the window instead of a sandwich. We decided that either: Charlie was a very messy husband, so his wife wanted him to stay on the train so she could keep the house clean; or that Charlie had smelly feet, so his wife didn't want to smell them anymore. (I won't share R's third theory, which involved boogies.) R also decided that Charlie should have done the smart thing and asked one of his fellow passengers if he could borrow a nickel because he could have just gotten another one from the bank later and returned it to the person.

I love my boy. (Can you tell?)

So, I've been very productive today - yay! Although I never did make it out of my pajamas. But since my pajamas were actually some of the clothes that I wore yesterday, no one will notice. ;-)

6 comments:

sandwhichisthere said...

Sweetheart, the boy is showing early signs of genius. Do you remember the black box experiments from high school? Marbles are ball bearings and Rix is amazing to deduce that they were inside. He has mastered "Charlie on the MTA" and is asking you questions about it. Be carefuk to delay introducing him to Alice's Restaurant, the explanation can get complicated, especially the parts about the bench and "ceptin Alice". I think that a movie was made of it but I remember that you and your sisters were very impressed with the song. I have always liked Arlo Guthrie and "City of New Orleans" is one of mt favorite songs. "Walking in Memphis" is the other. I actually spent a day walking in Memphis. It was glorious. I spent the next three days in Hope, Arkansas. It was not glorious. No wonder Bill is now in New York. New York is wonderful. The people are so friendly and there is always something to do. If you decide, at three o'clock in the morning, that you want to go out for dinner and ballroom dancing, you can. The Museum of Natural History and the Guggenheim are Meccas for the mind. If you go to the Guggenheim, take the elevator to the top and stroll down the ramp. I didn't learn that the easy way. I hope that Alan is feeling better. Keep him away from Cracker Jacks for a few days,
all of my love, always, daddy

Greg C said...

One day I will be able to work from home. I think that would be great. We spend way too much time on the road. I am so happy for you.

Teachermom said...

That's one smart and inquisitive child you've got! I'm very impressed. What a cool kid. :)

Working from home would be fun, and I'ms ure it's nice in the winter not to have to get out and get all cold on teh morning commute (although I guess you had to drive to the dentist so it wasn't a total jammie day for you).

:)

Barrie said...

You sound like an awesome multi-tasker!

(I love working from home too. :) )

LEstes65 said...

Can I just reiterate what a wonderful mom you are? And that grabby toy - my boys each have a similar one. I use it all the time because I'm short. It has reached the extra roll of TP more than once for me!!!

Kristen said...

Thanks, everybody! Working from home is wonderful, and I'm so blessed that my company lets me do it one day every week. (And, I used to be home two days a week!)

Barrie: Thanks for visiting! I'm not typically that good at multi-tasking - that's why I was so proud of myself this week! :-)

Lynette: A said that every time he takes R to the Museum of Science gift shop, every single boy in the store picks up one of those grabby things. Too funny.