N.Lo is on the run. It’s amusing, on one hand, to watch him try and escape a diaper or clothes change, or a wipe-down after a meal. Like he can get very far. He spies the persecuting item (diaper, shirt, wash cloth), says “Ohhh no,” and makes a break for it, ending up about five feet away, backed up against the couch or other piece of office furniture. It’s endearing. On the other hand, like when we’re in a hurry, it’s kind of a pain.

I used to be the kind of Manager who was unfailingly on time; early, even. But it occurs to me that this characteristic was mine before I was a Manager. Or at least before I hired a second employee.

It seems like no matter how early or how avid my efforts to get out the door on time for the Outsourcer, we never make it. We should leave the house by 8:40, and it’s always 8:50. Or later. It doesn’t seem like the Outsourcer really cares if we’re late, but someday, when the employees have advanced in their Outsourcing care, it will matter. And the time will probably be earlier. Am I going to be *that* Manager, whose employees are always late?

And, I can barely keep up with my own paperwork sometimes. I realize it’s also a matter of prioritization and task management, but I think about the issue of homework, and making sure the employees have done theirs, someday, and I wonder how that will work.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. N.Lo is mainly agreeable, as an employee, and despite the running away, he usually complies without too big a fight. Many times, he’s even downright helpful. It does seem like we are on the verge of a change, however, where the employee is beginning to realize he cannot always have his way. That there are rules, an Employee Code of Conduct (ECC). And while some habits learned from his senior coworker are cute, some (temper tantrums) are not very cute. A work day spent tending to a very cantankerous employee, dissatisfied with all presented options for food, toys, books, etc, is not cute at all. Nor is his appetite for destruction, which comes in the form of sweeping all complex training tools with a million little pieces all over the floor, multiple times, in multiple rooms, sometimes out of fun, sometimes out of defiance.

Maybe he is just teething. Maybe I’m just tired. But if the shirt fits… 

Of course, he was nothing but pleasant during our Oscar the Grouch photo session, even saying “szheeeese” for the camera.

Sigh.