A mommy feat

Sometimes I get these crazy ideas and sometimes they actually work, which is a blessing.

6 a.m. Thursday morning, this morning. I wake up to a dark house with toddler feet in my face. Jeremy's out of town; Jack was crying in the middle of the night, and I barely remember bringing him into my bed. He wakes up - soon, we're both out of bed and going through the morning routine.

Now here's where my crazy idea comes in. Jack is accompanying me to work this morning - my dentist is in the same building as my office, and my doctor, who is a young dad, asked me to bring Jack along to get used to the dentist's office and he said he would check out Jack's smile. I tote along a bag loaded with my work stuff, one diaper, three play cars and Jack's play camera.  We take the L the two stops to Mommy's office. Jack gets smiles from normally dour morning faces on the train. When we exit the train, everyone else makes a beeline for the street, but Jack insists on standing and watching the train leave the station.

Being in public with Jack often reminds me how my world has become a Mork & Mindy episode. "Oooooh, Chicago," Jack exclaims as we emerge from the underground train station into the crowds on the busy city sidewalk. "Look at that tall building." As we cross State Street, the surliest of traffic cops actually waves to Jack; I have to do a double-take. We explore the wonder of the revolving door to Mommy's work building and off we go to the 19th floor to visit the dentist.

All of my trepidation is gone as I'm in the dentist's chair. Jack is enthralled - the hygienist has given him a seat next to me, and he gets to hold the tools. She patiently explains everything she is doing; he doesn't even have time to pull anything too naughty. Jack allows the hygienist to examine his mouth as well. I couldn't have asked for a better experience - they encouraged me to bring him one more time before he gets his first real cleaning.

So all is well - next stop is Mommy's office on the 16th floor where Jack knows the location of every candy jar. What really makes this crazy idea feasible is that Maria the super-nanny has agreed to pick him up downtown, and my nannyshare friend Whitney has also signed off on the idea. We have some time before Maria arrives, and again, it works out well. I'm thankful for a workplace that embraces my child and even though we have a board meeting happening at noon, everyone is totally calm and cool with a toddler running amok. Jack settles in to some Sesame Street clips on my computer while I prep a few things for my meeting.

Maria soon arrives and whisks Jack away (thank you again, Maria). I'm back upstairs to present at our board meeting and mingle with board members.

The day's almost done and I have survived....in heels and maternity stockings, no less!

(This post is dedicated to my sister Dayna who joins the ranks of working mommys tomorrow.)