Play Breaks

I quit my corporate job so that I could have the flexibility in my schedule to accommodate my daughter. I partnered with a friend of mine who already had a public relations agency to create a new communications agency. I was able to translate the skills I accumulated as a journalist into a consulting position that allows me to exercise my mommy brain so that it doesn't atrophy and to have a schedule that I control -- most of the time.

I work from home when I don't need to be in the office, which has been a great luxury. I love not having to do the   tag-team shower-and-dress routine. I give my daughter breakfast, play with her a bit and then we both adjourn to the basement office. It's so much more comfortable to work in my pajamas. I am also fortunate that my mother lives with us. I have a village in my home.

Now that Meilee has become more independent, she can play by herself in solid increments of time. But, being surrounded by technology, she is no stranger to the infinitely more interesting toys on my desk: my Mac, BlackBerry, Zoom recorder. I hear one of two things:

"iPho, iPho, iPho" or "pih-jur, pih-jur, pih-jur" (pictures)                   

My husband has an iPhone, which Meilee knows how to unlock. She also understands that touching the screen makes things happen. YouTube videos featuring other babies or the birthday video her dad made of her are favorites. She sees my phone and calls it an iPho. The recorder, which is flat and rectangular is also an iPho. The computer contains many photos of her and short videos taken with a point-and-shoot digital camera.

As a result, I often have to stop my work for a play break to look at pih-jurs or to call Dada on speakerphone or to play one of her videos 10 times.

I am well aware that the experts frown upon too much screen time. So I will try to distract Meilee from the glorious treasures that await behind links and icons by taking her for a ride on the merry-go-round I call my chair.  I push the chair away from the desk. I put her in my lap and we spin until we get dizzy. Then we stop, hold our foreheads and say, "Whoaaaa, whoaaaa." We also roll on the floor, play peek-a-boo, look for the caps to her markers, which always seem to be missing.

True, some days aren't as efficient as others when it comes to accomplishing work. But I get to listen to the sweetest soundtrack: Meilee's giggles.

Here's the merry-go-round -- except ours is red.


Topics: Family Life , Fun