Poor Liam; those two-year-old molars are really bothering him this week. Today he slept dreadfully during his nap, and he’s already woken up crying once tonight. Normally I wait until it sounds like he really is awake and needs reassuring, and nine times out of ten he falls asleep on his own again, but tonight I went in not long after he called for me and cried briefly, even though it sounded like he was settling down again. We snuggled in the armchair together and he fell asleep almost immediately. I sat there with this long boy on my lap in the dark, his head on my shoulder, feeling his warmth and his weight, and wondering when my baby became a boy. It’s been ages since I cuddled him back to sleep; it’s not something I do often, but tonight I just wanted to be with him for a bit.

I attended my first group meeting at work this afternoon. I learned a lot: namely the new delivery schedule, key personnel shifts, and so forth, and am now a lot more aware of how the project is structured and what it entails, as well as gaining a better idea of What It Means (to the market, to the end user, to the company, etc.). I am in absolute awe of this producer who juggles the entire show, and juggles it with poise. Two platforms, both still relatively new, QA, product testing, basic design, the needs of the administration, the needs of the team, the needs of the market… he’s a very capable, principled, and well-grounded man. I also learned that everyone in the room is a member of the team. There are about forty people. This is a small team compared to other projects in the company, I know, but I hadn’t realised the extent of the manpower required. I simply hadn’t thought about it before.

I finished cutting a ruthless swathe of pink-highlighted-destruction through the supplemental dictionary today, and began to look at the main dictionary for words to strike out and/or edit. I am already tearing my hair out — it has ‘backward’ and ‘backwards’ (well, not any more, because I marked one for deletion because of its derogatory definition), but not ‘forward’. I’m suffering from a lot of double takes and “you can’t be serious” and “wha?” sorts of gestures and utterings of exasperation. (There was a mild ripple of relief that ran through some of the team when I was obliquely introduced as the contractor bringing the dictionary up to par during the meeting. Every hour I am there I come to better understand why this reaction is common when I am introduced and my purpose is made known.)

One of the benefits of working in a mostly male environment is that the women’s bathrooms are always empty. And clean.

Note to self: Don’t wear the zip-up stacked heel ankle boots to work again. They have hard soles, and they click when I walk. (See above re: mostly male environment. I’m uncomfortable with the high-heel click, especially since I tend to walk quickly or decisively, and these are mainly hardwood floors. Loud noise tends to call attention to she who makes it, and I’m not big on the calling attention thing.)

I got lost trying to find the cafeteria to fetch hot water for tea today. Thank goodness for helpful maintenance staff.

One of the neat things about working on-site for this contract is that Meallanmouse and I make a point of walking out of the building every day for lunch. So far she has introduced me to three excellent restaurants with very affordable lunch specials and delicious food (bonus: all healthy). Otherwise I would be eating at my desk and that is bad for my brain, my productivity, and my health, quite frankly. Hurrah for friends who poke me, and keep me social and clear-minded.

Enough; bath, and bed.