Take Your Child to Work Day! Er, Month

Look who has invaded the home office!

Who says no drinking on the job??

For about three weeks a year here in Israel there is no school, no day care, no summer camps, no babysitters available anywhere in the country and, if you are Lucas and I, no available grandmothers to take over for the beleaguered parents. These three weeks strike fear and panic into the hearts of the working class populace throughout the country.

It means that either myriads of parents must take off from work or plan their family vacations at this crucial time. Or that myriads of kids go to work with their parents instead.

And the latter is exactly what Lucas and I have done. Mommy works from home, so we have been going to work with her every minute of every day.

Mommy recalls working at offices during her pre-children days with the vague memory and understanding of a childless person. In this hazy recollection, she can picture the children of her coworkers sitting at vacant desks in offices trying hard to occupy themselves with coloring books or electronic games for a really stretched out five to six hours a day. The work day graciously, but unofficially, shrinks in the summer as workers with kids surrender early while the childless workers are happy to see the bored-out-of-their minds munchkins go home so they can put in a few quiet hours of work before retiring themselves.

But that is mommy's problem: Since she can't leave the "office," her day is neither shrunken nor gracious. Instead it is multiplied with meals on demand, DVD rotations, foul diapers and the constant refereeing of two wild and crazy babies who enjoy hanging out the window as much as they enjoy plugging in the lamp behind the sofa. And this in addition to her work.

But what little apprentices we are! Not only have learned much under mommy's tutelage, but we have stretched her own multitasking skills to lengths she never knew were possible! For instance, one day while she was on an important conference call, like little lambs we stayed very quiet while setting to work rearranging all the sofa cushions, plugging in the lamp and unplugging it several times, and then even opening the only UN-barred window in the apartment! So, mommy multitasked a heart attack as well during the conference call while deftly answering questions about image placement and navigation bars for a new website!

Note: Despite 100-degree weather, the windows are shut

Cushion removal gives us better access to the lamp
on the small windowsill behind the sofa

That windowsill (far right) makes a perfect perch
for a small child!

But its amazing the difference a day can make. After expending all our destructive powers in one day yesterday, we very agreeably approached today. We were even calm enough to help make our own lunch - wholewheat pizza! With veggies (that we removed)! From (almost) scratch! Thank you bread machine for doing the hard work of kneading.

Mommy was brave, letting us touch flour and the dough,
even sauce and cheese of which there could be no
photos without a messy camera

Even though we aren't at school we addressed sensory
issues in a way by playing with dough

...And eating it too!

And then we enjoyed the fruit of our labor

A lot

You can see in the following video that our engineering endeavors trump eating, despite how sumptuous we made that meal look. When called to meal time (mam-mam), we continued working on our electrical skills. While mommy rolled tape.

All in all, a wonderful summer vacation!

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