Day 29- April 10, 2020

Day 29- April 10, 2020

Today was a pretty uneventful day- which you need sometimes in quarantine.  The wind was still whipping around, the second day it's keeping us inside.  We brought all the plants in from the greenhouse because we were worried about frost, and our sunroom now is covered in foliage.  R. helped Jeff with the spray bottle, carefully watering the baby cucumbers and lima beans.  She was especially excited about the hanging tomato plants that are suspended from a string in the middle of the room.  It's exciting to see seeds turning into green spindly plants, and begin their journey to fully formed legumes and vegetables.

We spent a copious amount of time watching Sonny With A Chance, a Disney show from about 10 years ago that my daughters absolutely love.  It's cute, with the premise of behind the scenes of a kids' sketch comedy show.  They've been singing the theme song, along with the "beans beans they're good for your heart" poem, for about a week now (special thanks to their dad for teaching them that one).

The girls also played some Fifa Soccer '16 in the basement.  One of the best features that came with our house was a giant movie screen in the basement.  We bought a projector and it became our own little theatre. Now, we can not only watch films and television shows, but also play video games like Fifa where the girls can pretend to be the US Women's National Team winning the World Cup.  The only down side to the girls playing competitive games is that one of them ends up losing.  And neither kid handles that particularly well.  Today it was E.'s loss, and she came up hiccup crying, which she admitted was an overreaction, but she "couldn't help it."

As we've told our parents, 90% of the time, the kids have been amazing through this whole ideal.  But when they break, they break.  Whether they consciously realize it or not, the stress of this pandemic is weighing on everyone.  Money is tight, the girls haven't been able to hug their grandparents, see their friends in person, or go through a "normal" routine at school in a month.  Add in to that how we haven't been able to go outside in days, so the girls have had no major physical outlet, and their emotions explode over "silly" things like losing a video game.  I'm hopeful the weather clears up soon so we can  get the girls outside- they fight less when they have the chance to run around.

The highlight of the day was E.'s soccer team having a Zoom chat.  They haven't had an in-person practice in over a month, and it was her first chance to see a lot of the girls.  Only about half the team made it, but they all got to say hi to each other, talk about what they had been, and E. took the opportunity to show off her new elastic soccer trainer (you attach it to your waist and velcro in a soccer ball, and can work on juggling, dribbling, volleying, etc.).  E. has been so upset about her season being canceled, and seeing her team gave her a glimpse of normalcy that's been missing.

All she wants it to get back to playing actual games (against someone other than me, her dad, and her sister).  She was more excited than anyone at the prospect of playing 7 vs. 7 after months of 4 vs. 4, and to be honest, I was looking forward to it too.  As her coach, I really enjoy playing with the line ups to help the girls shine, and give the girls a chance to play in different combinations.  One of the best parts about coaching is coaxing the best out of your players, and highlighting their strengths, so I'm looking forward to being able to do that agin once we go back to normal games.  I can't wait to see them in person, and watch them score goals, play great defense, and high five with their friends. But in the mean time, getting to see our little girls giggling on the screen, and getting excited talking about how they have been practicing on their own is a good second.