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Now that Sara has started as an assistant manager at the Disney Store, my regular schedule has been thrown for a tailspin. For years now it has been pretty simple: I work during the week, and spend the weekend with Ben. Frequently I might see him during the week, but the bottom line equation remained weekday = me, weekend = Ben. This has all changed now.
The good news is that Sara gets her schedule well in advance. At this point we have the schedule through the end of February, and we will have the March schedule soon. This means that we can sit down with her school schedule and Ben's school schedule and plot out the coverage required. On average I need to pick up Ben from school three days a week, working from home for the remainder of the afternoon. About once per month I actually need to go to Sara's place in the morning to put Ben on the bus for school when she has to be at work before 8am. Some days Sara picks up Ben from my place after work, other days I keep him overnight and take him to school in the morning. Because I need to do that three days this week, I have spent this weekend without Ben. It's the first time I can remember where I was not out of town on the weekend that I don't have Ben. It has been very strange.
My calander scheduler on my PDA has become invaluable, allowing me to keep track from day to day when I need to leave work early to get Ben or when I will have Ben overnight. Whenever there is a transition between Sara and I we quickly re-confirm when the next pick up is. So far it is working well, and it also has a hidden added bonus.
Working from home this much is demonstrating that I have the ability to contue to be productive without being physically in the office. My level of communication (via email and instand messaging) remains just as high, and I continue to hit my coding milestones. This will all be invaluable next month when I get back from our Disney World vacation and I begin to negotiate with upper management for the ability to continue working remotely for the company once I move to Orlando. This is definitely a Good Thing.
Fortunately, Ben has also become much more flexible so the random schedule changes don't seem to bother him. All of our work to make him feel comfortable, loved and supported no matter which home he is in has definitely paid off.
It's strange, but it seems to be working.
The good news is that Sara gets her schedule well in advance. At this point we have the schedule through the end of February, and we will have the March schedule soon. This means that we can sit down with her school schedule and Ben's school schedule and plot out the coverage required. On average I need to pick up Ben from school three days a week, working from home for the remainder of the afternoon. About once per month I actually need to go to Sara's place in the morning to put Ben on the bus for school when she has to be at work before 8am. Some days Sara picks up Ben from my place after work, other days I keep him overnight and take him to school in the morning. Because I need to do that three days this week, I have spent this weekend without Ben. It's the first time I can remember where I was not out of town on the weekend that I don't have Ben. It has been very strange.
My calander scheduler on my PDA has become invaluable, allowing me to keep track from day to day when I need to leave work early to get Ben or when I will have Ben overnight. Whenever there is a transition between Sara and I we quickly re-confirm when the next pick up is. So far it is working well, and it also has a hidden added bonus.
Working from home this much is demonstrating that I have the ability to contue to be productive without being physically in the office. My level of communication (via email and instand messaging) remains just as high, and I continue to hit my coding milestones. This will all be invaluable next month when I get back from our Disney World vacation and I begin to negotiate with upper management for the ability to continue working remotely for the company once I move to Orlando. This is definitely a Good Thing.
Fortunately, Ben has also become much more flexible so the random schedule changes don't seem to bother him. All of our work to make him feel comfortable, loved and supported no matter which home he is in has definitely paid off.
It's strange, but it seems to be working.