SAHM

Life has taken a fun, surprising turn in the past few weeks.  After 4 1/2 years as a working mom, I'm now full-time employed by the Hong House as a stay-at-home mom!  How we arrived at the decision is just as round-about as how I ended up in medicine despite my dreams of being a stay-at-home mom in the first place.  Suffice it to say I've never fully let go of the idea, and a combination of factors at work along with the joy of growing into a family of 5 made this right for the season.   I'm pretty sure I'll return to pediatrics.  This may be a season of a few months, or a few years, but I anticipate I'll return to primary care part-time down the line. Meanwhile, I'm really excited to be here, and very appreciative of David for his encouragement and support. 

The news was welcomed with enthusiasm from the kids.  I told Jonathan this weekend that Mommy is just going to have stay-at-home days for now and won't be going to full work days for a while.  He responded, "Thank you, Mommy!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!" Then on Monday he said, "Today's a special day because you're not going to have work days, right, Mommy?  Let's go to the library to celebrate this special day!"

Unfortunately, the library was closed.  I discover more of Jonathan's creativity every day.  After expressing his disappointment that the library was closed for the day, he exclaimed, "It's okay, Mommy.  Let's go home and we can MAKE the books we were going to check out!  I'll make a truck vehicle book, and a dinosaur book.  I think I'll make a book all about the Caterpillar construction company."  His response to almost any disappointment of that type right now is to simply make what he wants.  It's way better than continuing to grieve the loss or requesting we go to the store and buy said object, and it's fun to watch him create.  Earlier this week he found a plastic duck toy in a sand box at school and thought it was the coolest thing ever, but had to leave it there in case a friend had lost it.  He decided that would be okay, because he'd simply make a similar red duck at home out of cardboard.  As soon as we got home he found some pieces of cardboard, outlined a duck and colored it, had me cut it out (thick cardboard), made an Allosaurus to go along with it ('cause why not?) and spent a good part of the afternoon playing with his new duck and Allosaurus.