Precious Times

My time with Kalin has become more precious. A couple weeks ago Kasey and I decided that it would be wise for me to look into getting an evening job. We have, quite honestly, been blessed that it has taken this long for us to feel that a part-time job is necessary. I knew that whatever work I would find would probably be a retail position. All the jobs that would fall under my qualifications and college degree are day jobs and we are not willing to put Kalin in daycare for the sake of money (not to mention daycare would probably eat up most of the money I would make anyway). At this point in our lives, I have absolutely no desire to have a career that takes me away from my kid. I've always felt that my place is at home with our children. So with that in mind I applied at our local K-Mart, stating that my available hours are in the evenings and Saturday mornings. I figured I could handle 3 or 4 hours at night - I mean Kalin would be going to bed a couple hours after I left anyway so really I'd only be missing the last 2 hours of his day. In theory, it sounded like it wouldn't be that much of a sacrifice. However, I have found that in practice, it is very difficult. There is now the potential of missing out on family dinners, bath times, family story times, family play-time, and Kalin's bedtime for five nights every week. It's hard. It's hard walking out of the house just a few minutes after Kasey has walked in from work and tell them goodbye knowing how much I'm going to miss. It takes a lot of effort at work not to keep looking at the clock, wondering what my boys are up to at home. I keep asking myself, is this extra money worth the time away from home? No, it's not worth it - but for now, it's necessary. And it is definitely just a "for now" thing. We're hoping it won't have to go much past the holidays. So I have found that my days with Kalin hold a lot more meaning and our play time and story time are much more precious. I might even force him into a one-nap-a-day schedule just for the sake of spending more time with him. I know that there are many mothers who genuinely want to work and while it may be a little difficult to be away from their children for the day, they really love the work that they are doing. Then there are the mothers who have to work a full-time day job to make ends meet and to those mothers my heart goes out to. I don't know how you do it. Maybe it gets a little easier over time. Maybe I'm just having such a hard time with this because I've spent almost every single hour of every single day of this child's life with him (exceptions being: some date nights, grocery store trips, a few hours to myself, an anniversary trip and, most recently, our trip to Disneyland). There is no regularly scheduled time apart from him (well, maybe nap times). Let's face it - I'm addicted to this little boy. So, we're in a transition phase right now (and I hate transitions).

Moving on.

I love the age Kalin is at right now. He is so much fun and his verbal skills are increasing daily. We have a lot of fun with him. He somehow learned to say "ahhh, beep beep" which I think is from a song from the early 90's or something. I'm not entirely sure where I picked it up (must have been on a commercial) but it would get stuck in my head and just recently Kalin started singing it too. He also says "Whaaa?" which is something that Jon Stewart (the comedian) says. Don't worry, Kalin has never watched Jon Stewart. Kasey taught it to him. It's very cute and very funny to hear though.

Kalin loves the movie Cars. He would watch it 5 times a day if I would allow it. He also enjoys watching Winnie the Pooh. His new favorite thing is to sit, covered with a blanket, in the bean bag chair to watch his favorite shows. He lasts a good 30 minutes doing that. Cars was a huge help on our roadtrip to Hemet.

Kasey took some time off work this past week so we could spend some time visiting friends and family down south. Of course, the main reason we went down there was for my birthday!!! I've never celebrated my birthday with his family so we thought that it would be ideal to do that this year and take advantage of Disneyland's offer of free admission on your birthday! We had alot of fun.

I also saw my new niece, Hannah! She's a sweetheart and I had a great time holding a little tiny newborn again. I don't remember Kalin ever being that small.

I will now leave you with a humorous list of Toddler Property Laws (I'm sure some of you have seen these before). The truth of these statements become even more evident when you get a couple of toddlers together to play. Enjoy!

Property Law As Viewed By A Toddler

1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks like it's mine, it's mine.
8. If I saw it first, it's mine.
9. If I can see it, it's mine.
10. If I think it's mine, it's mine.
11. If I want it, it's mine.
12. If I "need" it, it's mine (yes, I know the difference between "want" and "need"!).
13. If I say it's mine, it's mine.
14. If you don't stop me from playing with it, it's mine.
15. If you tell me I can play with it, it's mine.
16. If it will upset me too much when you take it away from me, it's mine.
17. If I (think I) can play with it better than you can, it's mine.
18. If I play with it long enough, it's mine.
19. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it's mine.
20. If it's broken, it's yours (no wait, all the pieces are mine).