Monthly Archives: November 2008

Law

So many networks, so little time…

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No one told me how much of starting a business was social. I have been to so many lunches, dinners, events, et al, just so I could corner a few people at each and promote my practice. It is wearing me out more than the constant droning of law school ever did. I come home each day and I have nothing left to say to anyone.

Right now I am trying to meet a deadline for my Lizard case. I have been reading over Administrative Procedure Act cases looking for something to bolster our argument with, but my sinus infection and resulting headache have made this very difficult to do.

I have a teleconference with the Court in a Domestic Relations case tomorrow morning and I live in fear of oversleeping, failing to hear my phone, and generally not making the call for some reason. I am dropping Monkey off with Nama and Da for delivery to school and Lee is keeping Otter while I run off with my client to a quiet room at the law school and a date with my speaker phone. It is my first such teleconference, and firsts make me nervy.

I am meeting two attorney’s this week who may be willing to mentor me and provide me with overflow work. Someday I hope to be in a position to offer overflow to others, but for now I am looking for work wherever I can. One attorney is a G.A.L. and the other handles preventative forclosure work. Both will give me a chance to make a living helping people, though the foreclosures are an area I have not practiced in before.

I am also going to start a newsletter to send to those in my life who are in a position to recommend me or send me work. I hope sending it out will alert them to the status of my business, and serve as a reminder to funnel things my way whenever they can.

This is an isolating path, but so far, a busy one. I can’t wait to be successful enough to be lonely, working in my office, instead of hitting every networking event I can find. I am running out of clever things to say, and business cards to hand out.

Monkey

Gaps…

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Some people grow leaps and bounds in the gaps between milestones. Some milestones have gaps. Monkey now has a gap in her smile!! After many, many, many months of waiting Monkey has finally lost a tooth!!

Gaps
Gaps

She was so excited as her tooth loosened. She wandered around the whole day exclaiming “I can’t believe I am about to lose a tooth!” Once she lost it she wandered around proclaiming “I can’t believe I lost a tooth!”. That one has continued.

Of course the Tooth Fairy left her a two dollar bill in a very fancy card. Being a fairy she can’t write anything, but her calling card was a lovely small green square with a silhouette of a fairy on it. I thought it was lovely.

Monkey opened it and proclaimed “Mom!! The tooth fairy has the same stationary you do!!”

I told her that fairies don’t have stationary and therefore she must have borrowed some from me. Oops.

I can’t believe how tiny her little tooth is!

The tiny tooth in the tiny box in the tiny hand.

It makes me all sniffly to see this little itty bitty tooth. My baby just keeps growing up.

Otter

A growing personality

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One of my favorite parts of parenthood is watching a growing personality take form and shape.

Otter is growing daily into the person he will become. He is trying on attitudes and behaviors, and it is humorous to watch him keep and discard various attitudes. Ever the gooey love baby, he has started handing out open mouthed drooley kisses to people who have earned his favor. We call them “Meh’s” as in “Would you like to give your sister a Meh?” He has also started giving the large carved wooden turtle in my parents living room meh’s, climbing onto a footstool and kissing it over and over again when we visit.

He is carefully testing out tantrums, or at least physical resistance. He will lie down, slowly, on his stomach on the floor and start to complain, looking up at me occasionally to see if it’s having the desired effect. So far I just ask him to tell me when he’s done and ready to move on. He will take a few minutes to lie there and kvetch, but as long as I stay calm and uninterested, he won’t escalate into a full blown scene.

He wandered around my parents house the other day with his hand against his ear, like a cellphone, talking into it loudly for about twenty minutes. He helps me unlock the car door and likes to walk with me without holding hands, listening carefully for my directions as to where to turn or when to stop. He really will listen, and will follow directions. It is very important to him that I let him walk on his own, and he listens in response to my allowing that independence.

He has begun demanding that he sit in a big person chair at dinner and eat with real silverware and a real cup. He will not drink from a sippy, even though he upends his beverage over himself more often than not. He is getting into things more deliberately, and slowly we can see the wheels in his brain twist and turn.

He is straddling the fence between little boy and baby now, and is a fascinating mix between the two. I love this magical age, and this chance to catch glimpses of the man to be. Most importantly, I am glad I have become a mom who will take a breath and take the time to let this personality flourish, whenever I can. I can’t always let him take the extra time to drink from a big cup or try and figure out his own shoes, or eat a bowl of rice one grain at a time with a fork, but I try to whenever I can. These odd behaviors are his first real testing of his place in the world, and allowing him the time to push boundaries is one of the best things I can do to support his growth. My patience is helped by the fact that most of his behaviors make me smile.