Company excursions to the gym, a.k.a. Exercise Place, have been going much more smoothly. I try not to push it with more than two visits per week with the employees in tow, but perhaps I am also a lazy girl who will seize any convenient excuse to opt out. K.Lo still attempts to convince me that I need to stay home for exercise, but the argument has become more half-hearted. Now, she mostly says, “Why?” as if truly incredulous of the gym visit. Or maybe I am projecting.

When we pull up to Exercise Place, both kids exclaim, “Exercise!” and walk (mostly) willingly to the door. Even in the rain. Indeed, I was proud of all of us for persevering this morning in the wet weather. N.Lo still cried at drop-off, but I’m told that once I’m out of sight, he is fine. Today, K.Lo colored a few pages, and while sorting out which artwork was hers and preparing for our rain-race to the car, we forgot her purse, which I didn’t notice until about an hour after we returned back to the office. We convinced the CEO to stop by the gym for us later, as Exercise Place is right across the street from his office, and so it was returned safely to K.Lo later in the day.

Tomorrow will mark Day 3 of the New Room at preschool tomorrow, and we will see if K.Lo remains resistant. Mainly, I believe she is embracing the change, but misses her old teachers and routine a little bit. I’m sure it’s mystifying as to why she can’t go back, but luckily there is magic in moving forward as well. 

Our company has been keeping its eyes peeled for a Big Boy Bed, for N.Lo, and considering style, expense, etc, we have decided to go in a new direction, which happens to coincide with my plans for K.Lo’s 4th Date of Hire Anniversary. At that time, K.Lo will pass along her bed to N.Lo, and receive the Manager’s old bed, which is a canopy, along with a cubicle makeover. A Princess Makeover, to be exact. Obviously, more updates on this project will be forthcoming over the next few months. The transition will be interesting (change! oh no!), but we feel ultimately it will be exciting for all.

In the meantime, N.Lo has as yet only tried once to escape from his crib, that time he flipped forward and landed smack on his head, and seems happy enough to stay for a few more months. Other than the small storm of kicking that goes on in there sometimes. He’s having fun, but at the same time, it sounds like he will break the thing in half. Boys.

You decide. I did trim quite a bit of hair from that cute little head, but other than a slight Dennis the Menace vibe on the top right side, it doesn’t look too different in pictures. In person, though, I promise that the back is much less scruffy than it was, and I eliminated some extra long pieces in there leftover from past equally unskilled trims.

Here was the hair on Saturday:

Post-cut this morning, after a nice wash and dry last night: 

Of course, do I have a comparison photo of the back, specifically? I do not.

N.Lo did show off his new ‘do this morning to the CEO, pulling at his hair and chattering on all about it. He also presses his hands over his shirt as if to say, “Look at me, I’m wearing… stripes!” and tries on the Manager’s shoes, tripping through the house in flats. I have no idea where he might have learned such behavior; he clearly doesn’t look up to his coworker one bit! 

Our company enjoyed a quiet holiday filled with tasty food, courtesy of the Kitchen Staff and one of our Parent Companies. We are, of course, thankful for many things. And after several days of rest, I (the Manager) have returned to my original post within this company. You will also notice I am working on a new look for our company website; thank you for your patience as I continue to update.

The Manager had her hair cut this morning (by a professional), inspiring our company Style Department to give K.Lo a little trim as well. It didn’t come out half-bad, if I do say so myself!

Courtesy of our Art Department, the formerly disheveled white Break Room table has been spruced up a bit with several coats of glossy red paint and sealed.

Before:

After:

May our employees always be so happy and diligent in the future, working on projects here. Housekeeping will undoubtedly be pleased as well, now able to keep the workspace spiffy.

Some notes regarding K.Lo's recent dealings with employee dress:

• As an employee that has been with the company almost 2 years, K.Lo has reached that stage in training where she likes to show up to work wearing no clothes. First the pants go, then the shirt, and lastly the socks. The employee is unable at this time to disrobe on her own and so requests assistance by saying, "Off?" and pulling at the offending article of clothing as though it is just getting in the way of her work. As The Manager, I frankly care little what she wears or does not wear around the office, but wonder, particularly in these winter months, is she not cold? I'm kind of cold, just looking at her. But wearing no clothing does seem to increase her level of productivity and overall employee satisfaction, so who am I to argue.


• During our recent visit from The Regional Manager, we discovered that K.Lo's hair is now long enough for pigtails. Pigtails! Her hair remains fine in texture and of course falls out of the holders quite a bit, but pigtails are possible. Also noteworthy, the employee would absolutely not tolerate any sort of hair accessorizing until I parked her in front of the mirror. Then she seemed to enjoy herself immensely.


• Shoes. Oh, shoes. This past September, K.Lo wanted something (bubbles, I think) up on the counter and thought she could get them by pulling down the magazine they were sitting on. Unfortunately, a heavy ceramic ramekin bowl was on top of the magazine as well, and landed smack on her big toe. The toe turned black and stayed black for months. Finally, the toenail grew back and looks healthy again, but ever since The Bowl Incident, K.Lo has been extraordinarily fussy about her footwear. The very sight of sneakers approaching her feet makes her kick and yell as though absolutely insulted. Most other shoe suggestions are met with, "No. No. No. No. No," etc. Robeez and Robeez-type shoes that are leather and soft-soled are wonderful indoors, but outdoors not so much. She seems to like Mary Jane-style shoes, so long as they are not too stiff. She's got a pair of beige Stride Rite boots with velcro that have plenty of toe room, and after months of ado, decided one day that they were acceptable. But girl employees need options, backup. So we went on a company outing--several company outings, actually--and it took four stores, innumerable fittings, countless rejections, several laughable employee suggestions, a shoe-induced meltdown or six, and the assistance of a kind and immeasurably patient saleslady to settle on CROCS. Purple crocs. Escalator hazards be damned, the kid will wear her Crocs, puts her Crocs on herself, talks about how much she loves her Crocs, shows her Crocs to strangers in the store. So, thanks very much, we will take the Crocs.

Yesterday, while K.Lo and I attended a multi-company celebration for one of K.Lo's colleagues, our CEO rearranged the Conference Room. This reorganization project has been a long time in the making, and now that it is finished, it's appallingly clear that our former furniture arrangement was a complete and utter trainwreck.

It is just so much better now, makes so much more functional sense. Our Conference Room is long and narrow, though not very big, but we have moved all the furniture to one end, and all of the media to the other, making the space seem larger. Socializing can take place at one end of the room, employee work at the other. Amazing that a) our company operated two and a half years with such an idiotic Conference Room layout, and b) simple changes can so drastically increase employee satisfaction. Or maybe it just doesn't take much, here at The Lo.Co.

Now that the holiday decorations have come down at our office, we have space to set up another cubicle for the New Guy, and I'm pleased to say that he loves it. K.Lo, never having been a fan of walled-in office spaces, fairly loathed the playpen, but N.Lo seems content to talk to the butterfly on the wall and even grabbed at a few office supplies this afternoon. K.Lo did briefly request to tour the space, but later confessed that the butterfly "scared" her... or did it.

Management is not always made of stone. K.Lo woke twice last night and our CEO effectively addressed the situation. Apparently, however, the poor thing had a dirty diaper and sadly woke with diaper rash this morning. Even worse, though--the worst--the little one has learned to say, in the tiniest voice, It hurts.

N.Lo auditions for the role of The Gorton's Fisherman. We await word from his agent.

In other news, though I said in the past I wouldn't do it, an Executive Decision was made this weekend to cut K.Lo's hair. Just to keep it out of her eyes, until the rest gets longer, then we'll let those bangs grow out. Until then, the child can see, and no longer looks so "country bumpkin," as the CEO of our company has recently suggested.