My little job and my little girl

I have a little job, it goes in and out with me and what can be the use of it is really hard to see. Ha ha. OK I am telling myself jokes right off the start. Where is that going to lead me? That is a slight paraphrase of the poem I think by Robert Lewis Stevenson about his shadow. Probably called, "My Shadow". I know my mom knows what I am talking about here.

ANYWAY...I worked 4 days in a row this week and I am still alive and am not having a break down. Of course have done nothing but work, make dinner and check my facebook page this week but still I am good. I started working this past summer and increased my hours slightly in the fall. After 2 days in a row of working I would literally be on the verge of a mental breakdown and completely incapable of making dinner or caring for my family in anyway. Now before you feel sorry for me keep in mind I work less than 10 hours a week. I don't transition well. But I am now in the groove of working and I sort of like it. I changed my schedule this week plus picked up someone elses shift to help out which is why I ended up doing 4 days in a row. I know John was skeptical when I told the girl I would take the Sunday afternoon shift that I would still be in my right mind tonight but I have done it. I feel so powerful.

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I work in at Lifetime Fitness in the child center. I watch other peoples kids while they work out. People tend to work out on a schedule so Isabelle has developed some regular friendships with the kids who come in. Watching her play with other kids has been one of the most rewarding parts of the job. I really feel like I am getting a glimpse of her personality coming out. This week I felt like I got a glimpse of the future as a little friendship issue came up. She decided she was only friends with one little girl, Tessa, and refused to interact with the other girls who came in, was rude and told them they weren't her friends. I wasn't really sure what to do about this. I guess I figured there would be friendship issues when she got into school because she is a girl and that is what happens but she isn't even 4 years old yet!

Sister with 4 girls to the rescue! (All those girls were bound to come in handy one day.) I called my sister who validated the fact that the behavior was not appropriate and then helped me problem solve the obvious. I told Isabelle that if she couldn't play with all the girls then she couldn't play with any of the girls. And I told her she needed to be kind and that God wanted her to love others because God loved her. Well wouldn't you know the next day I immediately see a change. I even hear her telling one of the little girls that she needed to be nice because God loves us. How thrilling to know that she was actually listening to me. Today was a little more challenging as all her little friends were there together but I still felt like the message was heard even as I saw her being torn between wanting to go off alone with Tessa and knowing she needed to obey.

Girl challenge number one conqured. Millions more to go.