Now the Little Boy Knows

It’s been over a year now that I’ve been working from home. We (because it’s a collaboration among all of us in the house) used to tell Justin that I go to the office every day when the truth is I’m just working inside our bedroom. To make everything believable to my then 2-year-old son, I had to work as quietly as I can because the slightest noise perturbs him. This is not easy for me to do because there’s just a thin divider between our living room where Justin stays the whole day and our bedroom where I work. Can you imagine me soundlessly sneezing? I almost managed to do that. LOL! I think this situation has also created fear in my son because when he hears anything coming from the bedroom, his nanny would just tell him it’s nothing or it’s just our neighbors doing something in their house.

But now, after one year of pretending, the little boy knows I’m just working inside our bedroom. I don’t ask him and his Ate Ayie (or whoever is there to baby-sit him) to go inside the bathroom anymore when it’s time for me to go to the office or to go home. I just simply tell him that mommy has to work now inside the bedroom and that I will see him later. I think he likes the idea that mommy is just in the house all day, and while he sometimes calls my name during work time, he doesn’t really do anything that will disrupt mommy’s work schedule. He also knows my work ends at 5 or 5:30pm, which signals his turn to use our computer to play online games.

Why the change of plan, you might ask. The answer is simple. I don’t think I can fool a smart three-year-old boy anymore, so what’s the use of pretending?