I am having one of those days when I find myself thinking "Wow, it's really lucky that my children are wonderful enough to give me some hope for the future, because the rest of the world is full of assholes." To make a long morning story short, our pediatrician made us wait for almost an hour this morning for an appointment that took (I am not exaggerating) 4 minutes. Then I went to the post office and had to buy stamps to mail some letters, one of which was going oversees so needed a 90 cent stamp. Hammie is screaming in his car seat and Fraser is trying to help by kissing Hammie's head (very sweet, but not so helpful). I get to the counter after waiting for the postal employee to chit chat with the man in front of me, buy my stamps and turn to the table to put them on my letters, leaving the oversees letter and stamp on the counter. Now, a nice postal employee would have offered to put the damn stamp on the letter and throw it in the bin, instead she tells me I can put the stamp on and stick the letter through the out of town slot in the lobby. I would have liked to tell this woman where she could stick it.

I did not, however, tell the not-so-helpful postal employee where she could stick it, nor did I freak out at our pediatrician when he didn't even apologize for keeping us waiting (I may not have looked thrilled though.) I kept my cool both times because two things have become extremely clear to me, really only in the past few weeks.

First, when you have a "job" that requires you to work 24 hours a day, seven days a week with no bathroom breaks (peeing with the door open so you can watch a toddler while you hold a baby does not count as a break), and a "boss" that demands you not only be completely prompt in rendering services (or he screams in your face and throws food, or worse, at you) but also pleasant, patient, and constantly entertaining, you find it much more difficult to understand how people with "normal" jobs can possibly run an hour late for an appointment. At these times I find it helps to stop, take a deep breath, and remember that there was once a time when I too felt I was soooooo busy with my 5 day a week job that gave me evenings off and three weeks of vacation each year. I also remind myself that I now find my job incredibly rewarding and, if not enjoyable 100% of the time, then at least deeply satisfying the vast majority of the time. I therefore remind myself that not everyone is lucky enough to have an occupation they feel really matters, and this makes it much easier for me not to lose it when people are not, shall we say, all that they can be.

Second, I have also recently realized that another aspect of my job description might read "Role Model: required to display behavior in public and private, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, suitable for emulation by small children." So now I think, "would I want Fraser to yell at his pediatrician for being late? Would I want Fraser to make snide comments to the postal employee?" If the answer is no, then I just don't do it. Of course this does create some problematic grey areas, as in "would I want Fraser to pee with the door open?" Well, no, but I figure we'll worry about him actually learning to pee in the potty before we get worked up about door placement.

On a different note, Hammie has experienced quite a few "firsts" recently. On Monday he wore his zebra shoes for the very first time (see photo for verification). On Monday night I was so exhausted by his 3 a.m. feeding that I fell asleep in the glider while he was eating for the very first time. And, apparently feeling some concern over the nodding off in the glider incident, on Tuesday night Hammie (almost) slept through the night for the first time. Of course by "slept through the night" I refer to the sleeping 6 hour benchmark set by some expert who apparently functions on ridiculously little sleep. Hammie slept for 5 hours and 45 minutes in a row. Like I said, it is lucky for me that my kids are so wonderful.