Written By:  Chaaron @ Sense and (Non) Sensibility

Here in the DC area we were expected to have a major snowstorm on Wednesday, the Snowquester (we can’t stop with the bad snow puns). This caused much of the government, local schools and even some businesses to close in advance of the coming precipitation. This included daycare but not my office or my husband’s. Typically RP can just take Dash to work with him and shut the door to his office while he works. His office is extremely family friendly and his co-workers have had their kids at the office from time to time. But he’s knee deep in trial prep that demands focus.

So that means that Dash was going to my office with no door and no kid-friendly precedent. Gulp!

You know that saying that your children are just luggage before the age of six months? I don’t know that I agree with that saying 100%, but I definitely agree that after six months, everything changes. Dash is no longer happy to be sitting still and is no longer luggage. He is on the move. I knew that the best chance I had to get any work done was to be at the office and hope and pray that my seven month old behaved like a church mouse. You know, quiet and out of sight.

We got to the office and were relieved to find that only five other staffers had made the voyage. We have a small staff and most commute from the areas in Virginia and Maryland that did see some significant snow. So, I spread out a blanket for Dash and crossed my fingers. And wouldn’t you know it, things turned out just fine.

He did some playing on the floor. Our president even got down on the floor with him for a few minutes.

 

He did some puffs eating.

 

He enjoyed a Mum-Mum and a sippy cup.

 

Not a bad day for a baby.

Not everyone loves babies or having babies interrupt their work day, but I was so pleasantly surprised that while Dash sat silently on my lap during my weekly team meeting, I caught my boss making silly faces at him to get him to smile and co-workers that typically don’t have a need to come to my side of the office, would swing by and check in on Dash a few times during the day.

I mentioned before that our president spent some good floor time with my little guy. He then grabbed his iPad to show off pictures of his pride and joy, his two year old granddaughter. He also rushed to finish his lunch so that he could hold Dash while I finished mine.

My co-worker bounced Dash to his longest nap of the day.

And I came in on Thursday to find out that the news had spread that my baby had been in the office and other co-workers were jealous that they didn’t get to hang out with him.

My grumbling that we missed our last chance at a snow day turned into one of my better days as an employee and as a mom. Doing the working mom thing is tough and often you have to keep your two worlds separate. But every so often, a failed snow day can be just the boost you need to feel re-energized by the very human interactions you have with your co-workers and spending working hours with the little guy with the big blue eyes that makes you race out the door at the end of the day.

Who needs snow days anyway?