This morning was quiet. Last night, we gave the kids explicit instructions to PLEASE stay in their rooms if they woke up early. No more "stay in bed if it's dark, but you can go downstairs if the sun is up". Because frankly, I am WAY too light of a sleeper and wake at the slightest floorboard creak. In a house built in the 1890's, that's a lot. The new rule is keep a book where you can reach it, and if it's light enough for you to read, you can do that. But no getting out of bed until I come to get you.
They listened (!). My younger daughter was sitting in her room, reading a mermaid book to her stuffed animals. I offered her pancakes, but she shushed me and went back to her rapt audience. Sneaking into R.'s room, I quickly noticed she was nowhere to be found (though her blanket, several toys, a painfully placed Hatchimal, and numerous clothes were strewn about). I ducked down the stairs and discovered her on the couch, where she gleefully pointed out that she had heard me go into E.'s room, and had taken it upon herself to turn on Boss Baby (the new season that dropped last week). She was eager to partake in pancakes, so away we went.
School this morning was relatively uneventful. E. was excited about her writing (we shared her "friendly letter" that she wrote to her grammy with Grammy, and got a sweet text back), and eagerly jumped on an assignment to watch a drawing special on Youtube and create her own fish landscape, complete with clown fish (anything Nemo related and the child is happy. I blame her broken leg when she was a year old, when she watched non-stop Nemo and Monsters Inc. for about four weeks. It was the only thing that kept her from trying to shimmy across the floor in her cast).One of my best friends, a nurse who has been working all week, called while I was putting in time sending online resources to some colleagues, and I took my "prep" period. We were chatting away when I decided to head to the basement to switch the laundry- and promptly missed the railing and slammed my left shoulder and back on the stairs as I made my way (painfully) down them. The girls, thankfully, heard me fall, and I sent R. running to find my husband upstairs. Fortunately, if you're going to fall down the stairs during a pandemic, it's really great to have a smart, caring RN on the phone who can walk your husband through a check up to make sure you don't need to go rushing into the fire for X-Rays.
I was really sore, and R. brought me icepacks while E. worked on her homework. With Mommy hurt, both girls were remarkably self-sufficient on finishing their work, and I'm very proud of their resolve to not fight once while I was stuck on the couch. Jeff brought me Tylenol, and we spent about two hours watching Kids' Baking Championship and The Great British Baking Show. We then decided that perhaps this wasn't the best idea when rationing food, when the idea of an upside down tomato cake with tomato jam started to seem appealing.
Once the Tylenol kicked in, I started to feel a bit better, and was able to get up and move around a bit. This was key, because the weather outside had gone from rainy and dreary to sunny and warm. I couldn't pass a soccer ball with the kids like I normally would, but Jeff took over, and I got to videotape E. showing off some moves, and enjoy the kids taking on their dad in a game of 2 vs. 1 (he won- he refuses to let them win, but he did keep it close at 5-4, and a few of their goals were completely legit).
I treated everyone to lemonade (happy to have CountryTime mix in the house since we ran out of juice three days ago), and we sat on our front porch while people watching. A giant Newfoundland walked by, and I told the girls that is what Aunty Coley's puppies, Jack and Bonanza Jelly Bean, are going to look like soon. We saw a friend of R.'s, and they played invisible catch (this game is really catching on), and my old co-worker/work bestie jogged by with her husband and we sent air kisses.
There was family dinner time (Annie's Mac and Cheese was the star) and then the kids and Jeff settled in to watch Clone Wars. Today's good news of the day was discovering that Ashoka would be appearing in the new Mandelorian season (granted, who knows when it will get filmed, but we're all rather excited). This gave me a chance to catch up on writing, and on a new idea I had today, a Facebook Group called #WaldenChallenge. The idea behind it was what I wrote about yesterday.
My first post was:
I used to teach my Philosophy and Literature students about Walden by Thoreau, and as a project, they had to answer "What would they do if you went into isolation for a period of time, stepping away from society?" Inevitably, they had books they wanted to read, instruments they wanted to learn to play, languages to learn, art to create. I never really thought there would be an opportunity for such things as an adult- as a college student, perhaps over a summer or between semesters. But I am challenging myself and challenge my friends and former students- figure something out. Take advantage of this precious time if you can. Share with friends- hoping this is a bright spot for all of us! And I hope you have fun! #WaldenChallenge
I figured it would hold me accountable for trying to find positives in this lockdown, and hopefully give my friends, and their friends, and maybe even their friends, a good outlet and wealth of ideas.
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