Reasons Not To Work (Part One)

Morning good-bye-ing is becoming more difficult. It's not getting easier, as I would have expected. Most mornings the girls follow me out to the car--still in pajamas, Claire with bits of oatmeal stuck in her hair. I call to my mom and Brad and then march my daughters back to the porch so they won't chase my car up the street (as they have occasionally done).

And now Grace has also taken to calling me at about 5:00pm. She asks if I've left the office yet. And she stays on the line until she sees my car in the driveway.

Mostly she says very little. She just holds the phone to her ear while she goes about her business around the house.

Yesterday she asked, "Mom! Are you bouncing?!" Bouncing? I was confused.

"What, Grace?" Bad question. When I say that, Grace tends to think I'm deaf.

"MOOMM!! ARE YOU BOUNCING?!!!?"

"Well, no Grace, I'm not bouncing."

"Well, don't you feel the phone bouncing?"

If only phones were so advanced that I could feel her bouncing it. Then she could have felt me hugging her back.