I meant to write this post over the weekend, but I just couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. Even today, I’m having trouble. Trying to convert the stew of amazement, fear, anxiety, anger, uncertainty, etc. simmering in my head into a set of words that makes sense has seemed impossible. This post title implies a humor that I’m having trouble hanging onto.
With the increase in COVID-19 cases, we’ve been working toward further decreasing our time going out and about even for basic errands. I made a quick run early last week to pick up Ian’s new glasses from the eye doctor. They were doing curbside pick-up only. When I pulled into the parking lot, I called the folks inside and requested his glasses. I hung up the phone, rolled down my window, and sanitized my hands (after all, I don’t want to make them sick either). An employee came out and with gloved hands, handed me the bag holding Ian’s glasses. With my head turned slightly away from her, I smiled and thanked her, and that was that.
Ian, in his new purple glasses, has befriended a slug.
Ever since Maya got her big kid glasses last year, Ian has been wanting to ditch the rubber-like, strapped glasses that he wears in favor of his own big-kid glasses. Sean has helped both kids choose glasses frames, and he’s really good at it. Ian has some really cute dark purple frames that he absolutely loves.
Sean and I had started back to work on the 23rd, and so we told the kids they were starting back to school. During our spring break week, Sean had bought Ian a bunch of kindergarten workbooks and a bunch of 1st and 2nd grade books for Maya. We’re still waiting for a few of them to ship, but for the most part, the kids have enough variety to keep them occupied for small stretches of time. Sean and I kind of trade off throughout the day so we can each work for a good chunk of time in relative peace. I start my workday now at 6a to try and get a jump on things. We try to get the kids to work on some worksheets, do a few online lessons from Scholastic. For Maya, we try to get her to do a bit of writing work and some book reading.
Maya is working hard.
We’ve had a really loose art period a couple times. Other times, I’ll just let them spend an hour dorking around in the back yard. Maya has been big into bug catching lately. We got a net and a little bug house for her to capture them and observe them. We generally release the creatures at the end of the day, even though she makes sure to provide them with food and water.
On Tuesday the 24th, Austin and Travis County were issued a shelter in place order (they called it Stay at Home – Work Safe) through at least April 13th. Given that we had already ratcheted down our out-and-about activities, it meant very little to us. AISD, our school district, extended their closure to coincide. We start distance learning next week, whatever that winds up meaning for a first grader.
Ian likes doing school like his sister, but I think the novelty wears of faster for him.
We took the step of withdrawing Ian from preschool. There are essential employees who must have their children at day care, so I understand why they’ve chosen to remain open. For us, it doesn’t make sense though. We already have Maya home; there is no point in sending Ian to school. Our gut feeling is that AISD will not resume this school year, and we had always planned to send them kids to a different childcare place over the summer, since Maya is now too old to go to Ian’s school. With any luck, maybe we’ll get to regret our choice if Maya winds up getting to go back to school in May.
On Wednesday, the kids had their piano and guitar lessons via Zoom. Other than the sound quality being pretty terrible, it worked out well enough. Earlier in the day, Maya had gotten to FaceTime with her 1st grade teacher, and she seemed to enjoy that also. On Saturday, the kids each had group music lessons via Zoom too. It was hard to wrangle Maya, as usual, but I suspect it was good for the kids to see faces other than ours for a change.
Maya, catching bugs in the yard.
Grocery shopping has been … strange. Sean had gone once earlier in the week and found very little. Some of our basic supplies were starting to dwindle, and while we weren’t yet worried, we were certainly casting around for reliable solutions. We formulated a plan. Sean would do a round on Sunday morning at HEB, Target, and Costco, and from then on we would try to curbside as many of our groceries as possible (again, to limit exposure). We hit the jackpot. We got flour, baking soda, eggs. We even scored paper towels and TP. It’s astonishing how relieved all that made me feel.
The bug house.
After his very successful run, we set up a curbside pickup at HEB – our first ever. We booked it on Sunday and the earliest pickup we could get was April 12th. It isn’t even our usual HEB (which had no pickup times available). We did a whole lotta guessing about the kinds of stuff we’d need in two weeks, and we’ll see how much of it is actually available on that day.
Over the weekend, the United States took top ranking in quantity of COVID-19 cases. I screen captured a couple sources from yesterday evening. By one source, the United States had 142,402 confirmed cases and 2,497 deaths at that time. More locally, Travis county had reported 200 confirmed cases and 1 death as of Sunday evening. Poor New York City is drowning – about half of the US’s cases are in New York. Will they have enough ventilators when things worsen? Will the curve finally flatten? Much of my telecom job’s work has all but ceased in the NYC area due to quarantining and site access restrictions.
Our kids finally kind of lost it on Saturday. They’ve been remarkably resilient through this whole time. Disney World postponed? Ok, they understand. Can’t go back to school? Cool, we’ll do work at home with Mom and Dad. Can’t go to the playground? Fine, we’ll invent a playground oasis for birds in the back yard. But I think finally after two weeks, whether they really understand or not, they’ve had enough. Maya was emotionally fragile all weekend. There were crying fits and amplified sadness over the mildest of insults or injuries. Ian has been begging to play with some of his friends and has repeatedly asked me for the past couple days when coronavirus is going to be over. They’ve even incorporated coronavirus as a weapon in some of their good guy / bad guy games.
All in all, we’re doing well enough though. Sean’s and my work for our jobs is kind of getting done. The kids are sort of maintaining a bit of an education. They’re getting too much screen time, and none of us are getting enough activity, but we’re working to adapt. One bright spot: we appear to be sheltering a Bewick’s Wren family in our back yard. Years ago now, Maya painted and glued together a little birdhouse, and we hung it in our back yard not really expecting much to come of it. Earlier in the spring, we watched the tiny little wrens bring all manner of grassy material into the house. This past week or so, we’ve watched them over and over and over again flying up to the house with bugs and worms clutched in their beaks. We don’t want to disturb them, so we haven’t peeked in and checked, but we’re assuming they have hungry babies in there. It’s a small thing, I realize, but that and the prospect of Easter in a couple weeks seem to be helping boost the kids’ spirits during such an indescribably strange time.