is this what you do all day?

Before staying home with Vera I taught junior high. Say what you will about junior high kids, I feel like I often had intelligent conversations throughout my day. Whether those conversations were with my 7th or 8th graders or with fellow co-workers, they were a normal occurrence. During my 7 years as a teacher I taught a few high school classes as well (the beauty of teaching at a Christian school). One of these classes was Advanced Placement Literature, definitely deep conversations.

Well, on Saturday night my best friend came over for a girls' night. Derek was going to dinner and the new James Bond movie with his dad and a friend so I decided Vera and I would invite Auntie Mel over for girls' night. When Melissa got here Vera and I were playing on the floor. In the last few weeks Vera's personality has become so much more developed. She interacts with her smiles, her sounds, her eye contact, her body movements; it's fabulous! So Mel joined us on the floor and while we chatted I continued to play with Vera. At one point as I was making a ridiculous face and mumbling nonsense words to my daughter Mel asks, "Is this what you do all day?" And that's when I realized that days that were once filled with lessons on personification and literary analysis and character development are now filled with "booga, booga, boo" and "tickle, tickle, tickle" and "peek-a-boo." Wow. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I have a Masters degree.

But here's the thing, I love it. I know that at some point "booga, booga, boo"will change to "what letter is this?" and "what rhymes with cat?" and eventually Vera and I will sit at a computer while she writes her own literary analysis. I can't believe how lucky I am to have the opportunity to be at home each day with my daughter and watch her learn and grow. I am so blessed.

Well, back to girls' night -- Mel and I had a good laugh at how my days have changed and Vera provided some good entertainment. Once Vera went down for a little nap we watched a classic lifetime movie (fondly referred to as an LMN), made some cookie dough and just relished in the beauty of living in the same country again. After two years of "girls' night" being a skype call to China it was fabulous to sit on the same couch once again.