COVID-19 Self-Isolation Day 1 (or 2, or maybe 3)

I only took this picture
because I wanted to let Matt
know how hard I was trying.
:)

Today was a day of crises. Of pajamas that weren't washed and won't be wearable tonight. Of bumped arms, of people not liking bunnies enough, of brown paper Easter basket crafts that didn't turn out right and now the smooth dark brown paper is mostly used up and there's only "fuzzy" slightly lighter brown paper left. Of worms, scattered across the sidewalk on this damp day, frequent enough that with almost every step you could see one. Oh wait, those were only one small person's major crises (and, by default, mine). But you'd have thought they were the whole world's....

Anyway, I'm counting today as Day 1 of our coronavirus lockdown, even though Elise's musical last Friday was postponed, and we watched church from home. This is the day when it feels real, facing a week of cancellations, cold and rainy weather, and not much hope for things improving anytime soon. Plus the very real worry that people might actually get sick, jobs might get lost, and we might be in this for a long time.

We took a moment to celebrate Pi Day
in the middle of everything. Yes, we
did have some delicious banana cream
pie, in addition to the angel food cake
Kalina and I were already planning to
make. No one is suffering as we self-
isolate.

Thankfully, one thing stays the same in our household: we can still do school!!! While my heart is light that we won't have any major interruptions, and we can in fact buckle down and possibly even be finished with school when the weather is warm again, lockdown is eased, and the worms aren't as plentiful, the girls, who were anticipating a bit of a break this week as we welcomed guests, don't whole-heartedly share my feelings. They've also caught word that most schools are cancelled for the near future and possibly the long, and can hardly believe their bad good luck that they get to continue, even while their peers conquer whole video games and watch movies until they are unable to function without screens.

As an aside, I have to admit I'm delighted that the general public gets to try their hand at homeschooling! Maybe this makes me an evil person, but I'm at least a real person who gets very tired of hearing, "You must be so patient, I could never homeschool my kids." Now everybody gets to do it! And guess what--they totally can. Patience is a skill we all have to build and besides, if we're too patient our kids never get their math done. The fact that they're all now asking my advice on homeschooling schedules and such makes me feel relevant for about the first time in a decade. Thanks, coronavirus!

You can see how important it
is to Naomi that her Easter
baskets are just right.

Matt's always up for stockpiling, and so, several weeks ago I found myself forcing needing a "wide load" sign for my shopping cart as I heaved it up and down the aisles of Wal-Mart, cheeks flushed from both effort and embarrassment as I realized that for the first time since college, I was the crazy person in Wal-Mart. Why, oh why, did I begin with canned goods?!? Don't worry--we didn't buy more than we would use within a couple weeks. We homeschool, stockpile and own a lot of weird pets, but we're not that crazy.

On Thursday, in a rush to buy yogurt (after Elise's recent orthodontia work, this was one of the only things she felt comfortable eating), I brought Kalina to the grocery store with me, hoping to show her the life-altering, drastically reduced shelves I'd seen at Wal-Mart that morning (yes, I had to go to the store twice in one day--super annoying). But they were fine. I consoled myself that this was an expensive grocery store, and I probably saved an easy $100 by stockpiling at Wal-Mart instead.

Better memories than today:
a field trip to this amazing
reptile zoo where they open
all the cages and wake up
the critters! Matt told me
after that this wasn't safe.
But I didn't know at the time,
and look how happy she is!
The second time she held it,
it thrashed its tail, and Kalina
couldn't have been more
delighted.

But back to today. It's always a rude awakening that while I love cracking open the books on a fresh Monday morning, getting ready to check some boxes, the girls don't share my delight. Nowadays, Kalina puts on a good face and tries hard to focus, sometimes managing, and Naomi complies as long as she can turn every number and letter she writes into a bunny. Sunny Elise acts as though her pet has died, her mouth is full of uncomfortable metal that makes it hard to eat with no end in sight, she hasn't been getting quite enough sleep, and she's turned into a sea slug in a polluted ocean, when only three of those things are true. This morning, however, Naomi completely melted down over brown paper while Kalina and Elise helped each other with spelling, amazing children that they are.

Amazingly, it was not the ultra-productive day I'd dreamed about, and we were excited to break it up with a walk, and then quick outing to go pick up some science supplies from our co-op. The girls were hoping others would've brought their kids, and so were super disappointed to find only a group of moms standing at arms'-length from each other, chatting. No one lingered long.

Matt also said (later) that this wasn't
safe.

Back at home, we quietly finished our work before ending with a typical evening, minus music practice because technically we're on spring break from piano. Kalina listened to classical music, Naomi played with bunnies and crafted, and Elise read--plus they all helped Matt with the frog cage they're building.

Elise liked it too, although
even she had her limits and
didn't hold everything.
Naomi touched some
animals!

The girls are starting to get tired of hearing about coronavirus, but aren't super worried--except for Naomi, who's worried someone will cancel Easter. Unfortunately, there's not much else to talk about, so we find ourselves rehashing old memories, which isn't the worst way to spend our time.

And this, also, was not safe.

What's ahead for the next week or two? Movie nights, game nights, some online school with one of our co-ops, flexible cooking/baking with our stockpiled goods and whatever else we pick up, outdoor time whenever we can, and some creative schooling so no one gets burned out. I definitely plan for us to head to outdoor spaces for walks in new surroundings when we can. We'll also run across neighbors, but not run away from them, and we'll need to go to the store at some point. We can certainly use a few quiet weeks, although we may run out of construction paper entirely even before we run out of another type of paper everyone's concerned about....

We saw Swan Lake on
Valentine's Day!

Way back in January, but
worth mentioning: Kalina
and I performed in a multi-
piano performance! Lots of
pianos and pianists played the
same duets all at once. It was
so fun, and she got a trophy!
(Where's mine?!?)

Bucket list: watching
penguins waddle freely!
Dampened only by the fact
that Naomi didn't want to
be outside because she was
so cold. She had a point, but
by the time I figured that out,
it was too late to watch from
inside. Besides...penguins!!