Chapter 4: The Kids Are Alright

Psst! Have you Met the Family yet?

Well I guess I’m fortunate enough to have work. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I kind of wish I could have some time off. I’m getting really sick of it. My hours were cut when I returned from maternity leave, and they have yet to go back up, though April is normally the start of busy season. Stupid Corona (the virus, not the beer).

              Back in November, I started a work-from-home job captioning videos. Since my hours had been unexpectedly reduced, I figured this would be a way I could help keep us afloat. And it’s done alright. I wanted to maybe just quit my regular job and do this full time, but even work for this company has slowed down tremendously. I don’t think I would be able to make even close to what I’m making part-time at the place I'm at now. And what projects I do find to work on are 99% about the Coronavirus. Isn’t it amazing how such a miniscule organism can bring the entire world to its knees? Pinky and the Brain were doing it wrong all those years.

              Anyway, we’re still surviving, I guess. Work probably won’t be opening up the pool until July, which is quite unfortunate for poor Megan. She’s going bonkers not being able to go swimming. I really feel bad for her and all kids right now. Their entire worlds have just been turned on their heads, and I’m sure that’s utterly terrifying. But they’re troopers, and they’re making it through, one day at a time. I can only hope next year is better than this one, ‘cause I’m about ready to demand to speak to 2020’s manager and demand a full refund, in true Karen fashion.

              This week’s weather was pretty nice for the most part, though, with the exception of a couple of days here or there. We were able to get outside and have some fun. We did a scavenger hunt which was kind of a mix of for-fun and for-school. I hid a couple of stuffed animals in a toy treasure chest, then created a series of clues which took them on what was more or less a wild-goose chase through the neighborhood, as the treasure was hidden back home in our yard. But the point was more to have fun solving clues than anything. But before they could get their clues, they had to answer a question from each school subject. Once they answered the question, they would then get their clue which was in the form of a riddle that they had to solve. They had a ton of fun, but definitely facepalmed when they found out the treasure was essentially back where they started. I had a lot of fun with it, too.

              I’ve been seeing videos of people creating “sensory walks” for their kids and it reminded me of back when Megan was in kindergarten and struggling to learn to count by 5’s, I created a hopscotch-like game with chalk to help her learn it. Since Jack is now in kindergarten and struggling to learn how to count by 5’s, as well as needing a lot of practice reading, I decided to combine that game idea with the sensory walk idea to help reinforce the concept of counting by 5’s as well as reading and following directions. He did really well with it and I was really proud of him. Plus, he had a lot of fun with it, so that’s always a nice bonus. Even Megan had fun with it, even though it was far too easy for her. I thought about creating a similar one with a “blast through the past” theme to help her cement her social studies lessons in her brain, but I was so incredibly sore after making Jack’s, I could barely move for three days afterwards. I’m obviously not as young as I once was. But I did enjoy watching the kids have fun with it.

A nice day for learning to skip count.

              And I guess the last thing is the bittersweetness of the realization that my baby girl is growing up. I was in the middle of making lunch when I realized we were out of milk, which I needed for what I was making. I was going to run down the street to the convenience store and grab some, but at that moment, Ronan woke up and that plan was out the window; as he was demanding to be fed. Steven was working, so I was left with only two options: skip everyone’s lunch or send Megan to the store. It was a big, scary decision, but for the sake of all of the rest of our starving stomach’s, I decided to send her to the store. Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult to purchase a gallon of milk from around the corner, right?

              I was scared, I was nervous, and I second guessed myself every second she was gone. Is she capable? Will she know what to do if she has trouble finding the milk? Will she be able to carry it home? (She insisted she could). Will the cashier call the cops because this little girl is in the store by herself? (She may be 10 ½ , but she’s a very small 10 ½ who looks more like 7 or 8.) But, before I knew it, she was back home with not one, but two gallons of milk. I was impressed, mostly at the fact that this scrawny little girl carried two gallons of milk all the way home from the convenience store. That would have been uncomfortable even for me. I only asked for one, but she went above and beyond, which is great because we use a lot of milk. She apparently has noticed that. I guess the only thing I have to worry about now is whether she used her manners with the cashier or not. But I guess there’s still plenty of time to work on manners.

              Well, I suppose that’s all for this week. Things are beginning to reopen with restrictions, so some sense of normalcy is returning. Hopefully it won’t be long before we’re all back to normal and we can look back on this insanity and laugh. Stay well, my friends!