• This weekend, our employees enjoyed an overnight stay at one of our Regional Offices while Management caught up on paperwork—or at least they used paperwork as an excuse. In actuality, the office was so quiet that Management wasn’t quite sure what to do.
• Today the Manager met another company downtown to sample very delicious cupcakes; as always, it was an adventure. K.Lo experienced two separate four-alarm potty emergencies, resolving the first conflict at a local engineering office (wish I were kidding?) where a friend worked, and the second at a restaurant that was kind enough not to make us buy anything in exchange for use of their facilities. The cupcakes were terribly fantastic; we chose carrot with cream cheese icing for N.Lo, vanilla with chocolate icing for K.Lo, and chocolate with cookies and cream icing for the Manager. A key lime pie cupcake went home to the CEO.
• Afterward, we flagged down the free trolley and rode around the city streets until we looped back around to where we started. K.Lo held my hand the whole time, wide-eyed, particularly at the bumps. She did talk about the experience later in a positive way. N.Lo was too drowsy at that point to say or do much; however, the sugar kicked in as soon as we arrived back at the office, and Afternoon Break never happened.
• Before said cupcake excursion, we visited the post office, where K.Lo expertly handled N.Lo in his stroller. However, his blanket was caught in the stroller wheels, shredding quite a bit of the fabric. I’m thinking this is part of the whole process of creating a well-loved blankie, but it was still a bit traumatic (for the Manager).
• N.Lo has learned to shrug, which will serve him well over the course of his career. (Shrug it off?) Also, he finally echoed, “Up, please!” at my prompting. This verbal request is much preferable to incoherent whining noises.
• Temperament-wise, N.Lo continually shows himself to be night to K.Lo’s day. While the Twoville Offices reach out their evil claws and attempt to snatch him away for training time, he is sometimes receptive to walking through the problem with Management, rather than giving up entirely and melting into a defeated little puddle until the problem is solved for him. Poor K.Lo. Her approach to problem-solving is simply different, more of a challenge to mold into the appropriate techniques…
• K.Lo’s language seemed to improve overnight while visiting the Regional Manager’s Office a few weeks ago. It is hard to describe what exactly has changed, but overall she is more conversational, stringing together more complex sentences.
• Our employees have been learning about growing food for the cafeteria out in the company garden. I believe K.Lo is also learning about plants and seeds at the Outsourcer. So far, there is some interest in the monstrous beans, which grow noticeably by the day, but mainly, K.Lo sticks with her mud pies, and N.Lo scoops up handfuls of dirt, transferring them from one bed to the other.

Trying to catch water from the drip hoses

CEO and N.Lo

Needs a tissue!