Take your Katie to work day!

It occurred to me recently that when we return to the US, I'll office from home and won't have an official space in the IBM building in Dallas. One thing my Mom and Dad used to do for me when I was young was to take me to work with them. I plan to do this with Katie... but it's not terribly exciting to come to my office in our house.

So...

On December 29^th, I took Katie to work with me to the IBM Madrid office! As we are preparing to move home... this had the additional benefit of giving Becca some kid-free time to get work done on our logistics, etc. We started our day with my 1.1 mile walk to the office. It was the same as every (non-travel) day for me... but longer than she expected! On the way, we discussed proper behavior in an office setting. That we don't act super silly when we feel uncomfortable... but instead it's best to sit quietly, breathe and wait until we feel better about whatever is making us uncomfortable. That we introduce ourselves clearly and say our name “more loudly than you think you need to” while looking directly at the person we're meeting. That we don't run down the halls (unless you're my current manager who does everything at 78 rpms!). Etc etc. :-)

We arrived and got our space all setup. Katie had her own desk, chair and computer. Big times ahead!

Katie started out by sharing confident greetings and kisses with several of the ladies who sit near my office and then meeting the “big boss” (my manager's manager) who is an American recently arriving to Madrid from Austin, Texas. He was genuinely glad to meet her and she did a great job chatting with him about school and our move back to Texas soon.

After getting a coffee and apple juice/water... we got down to work. Katie brought her Thank You notes to complete from her recent 6^th Birthday party. It's quarter close, so I genuinely had several items to complete and I was able to focus on those tasks while she did her work.

After completing thank you's, Katie did some of her reading/learning games online. She loves these and they are actually pretty hard. It's amazing how fast she is learning to read.

I also have an electronic rfid key for our vending machines that allows me to buy things without having change at that moment. I just hold it near the sensor and it shows me my credit, etc. I brought all the euro dimes that we'd been collecting in the house, and Katie helped me by reloading my key. Well done! I have 6Euro's now!

After playing some games, we went and made scan's of our Passports and Residence cards. These were needed for our moving paperwork. While there, we trimmed up her Thank You's on the paper cutter. Nice!

We returned to my desk and I joined a telephone conference call. While I was on the phone, Katie did more online fun and drew me several new pictures to hang around my desk.

It was now 1pm and time for lunch! We met Mom a

t a nearby Italian restaurant and had a great lunch of pasta. Yum. She and Becca then went home for an afternoon siesta. :-)

I must say that Katie was impressive in our day at work. She did an excellent job and was (with the exception of running to the bathroom once!!) nearly a miniature professional office worker. It was a side of her I hadn't seen, honestly. Normally, I get home and she's tired and I'm tired and we either are just silly together or a bit quiet/grouchy and ready for bedtimes. She was impressive. I wish I had an office in Dallas so we could go do it again next year! Perhaps we'll find a way...

Best part? He question to me when leaving was, “Dad... can I PLEASE PLEASE work with you this afternoon? Or tomorrow?? PLEASE??” :-) Mission accomplished!