COVID-19 Outbreak in Ohio: Weeks 6 & 7

Tuesday, April 14
Our summer vacation was officially canceled today. Last summer we booked a week-long Alaskan cruise, bookended by a few days in Portland and Seattle. I've known for the last few weeks that it would probably be off, but I'm still bummed. Luckily we should be able to get refunds on the cruise deposit and hotels we had booked, and at least credits for the flights we purchased. Hoping we will be able to rebook for next summer.

Wednesday, April 15
The kids helped me do yard work for an hour this afternoon, although I remembered why I hate to do it when I was pricked on two separate fingers by rose thorns. I really don't care for gardening, but it feels good to do something productive.

Friday, April 17
With vacation canceled along with everything else that I ever look forward to in the spring and summer, I realized that the most exciting thing in the foreseeable future is the sweet potato fries I'm planning to order for take-out on Saturday.

Saturday, April 18
Paul's at the office again today. He has had two days off since March 30, and he often works at home for an hour or two (or longer) after the kids go to bed.

The annual art show at Edith's school was canceled, so each student was asked to create something at home to be featured in an online gallery. Edith drew birds that she found in Paul's "Birds of Ohio" book and made them into a quilt. She's 7 and has already surpassed me as an artist.

Sunday, April 19
Went to the grocery store this morning for the first time in 23 days. I was nervous about going on the weekend, afraid it would be crowded. But it was less crowded than when I went on a Friday morning 3+ weeks ago. I got there just before it opened at 9 a.m., and it was even less crowded when I left an hour later. I got enough food for at least three weeks, hopefully longer. I've never purchased so many frozen vegetables and fresh fruit -- plus THREE loaves of bread. We go through a lot when three of us are here every weekday for lunchtime peanut butter sandwiches.

Monday, April 20
Governor DeWine announced today that school would be online-only for the rest of the school year. Not a surprise, but I still got a pit in the bottom of my stomach when I heard him say it. The kids were disappointed but not devastated. We'll be fine.

Saturday, April 25
A beautiful day that I would have considered the first "real" day of spring in ordinary times. It was supposed to be Duckling Day at the local library, I think the first day of the farmers market down the street and we were to host our annual crap swap. Instead, we spent the afternoon doing yard work. I cut down a lot of vines, and Paul fixed the fence in the backyard, so that's something.

One perk of all this for the kids is that they are able to bike and scooter on the street a lot more than they ever have been able to before. The parents of the street watch from our respective yards and yell "CAR!" whenever a vehicle appears. With the stay-at -home order in place, there really aren't that many.

Monday, April 27
The governor announced the first steps of a gradual reopening in the state -- nothing that impacts us yet. Paul's work continues, and he worked a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday again.

How Both Kids Learned to Ride a Bike on the Same Day

 
I'll be honest -- it had definitely crossed my mind that this would be the perfect time for the kids to learn to ride a bike. With a stay-at-home order in place because of COVID-19, we can't really go anywhere or see anyone, so there would be no excuse not to practice.

It was a beautiful 70 degrees on April 8, and the kids and I were having fun playing outside. Almost on a whim I got out a bike without training wheels from the garage. They both seemed excited at the prospect of trying, which was quite a change from the year before. Last summer Edith had made the attempt without getting too far. She just couldn't get the hang of keeping her balance.

I had rather expected that Atticus might just be able to ride a bike before Edith. He's a pro at the balance bike -- a balance bike that, in fact, was given to Edith by her grandparents years ago but she never really took to. In essence, when I got out that bike earlier this month, both kids were at the same starting line.

As I predicted, Atticus showed early promise on the bike, but Edith just couldn't let her little brother excel without (or before!) her. Before long, they were both pedaling a few house lengths before putting their feet down. And all it took was a few hours on a lovely afternoon.

They've continued to practice since that day and have continued to improve their turns, starts and brakes. We're not quite ready to go on a full bike ride together, but it won't be long!

COVID-19 Outbreak in Ohio: Weeks 4 & 5

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing -- how our family of four is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and social isolation in Columbus, Ohio.

Thursday, April 2
As I wrote about last week, today is Atticus's fifth birthday. He was obviously excited, but got increasingly bummed as the day got closer. No party, and he can't even play with friends! But there is one good thing about school from home -- the flexibility. The kids agreed to start school about 90 minutes early (we usually begin at 9 a.m.) so we could end early and play more in the afternoon.

Friday, April 3
Paul not only is still going to the office for more than half of his hours, but he's working longer hours than ever. Yesterday he worked the full day at home -- a rare occurrence --  from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Took a break to watch Atticus open presents, cook supper and work on a personal project. Then he worked without break from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. And then left home before 6:30 a.m. this morning. It's a stressful time, but it's hard to complain.

Another Friday that the block decided to eat on their porches if we could. It was almost like normal.

Saturday, April 4
Paul worked another six hours today. Meanwhile I loaded the kids up in the car for the first time in three weeks, primarily to drop off some fabric I had that a friend is turning into face masks.

Tuesday, April 7
Dr. Acton used the term "tolerance for ambiguity" in Ohio's daily news conference. That's a good phrase for this whole distancing effort. (And maybe for life with small children in general!) In other news, Edith has learned to be a pretty good Frisbee player lately. We also want the kids to learn to ride bikes without training wheels, which seems to be as good a goal as any nowadays.

Paul is still working long hours -- worked at home on Sunday, went into the office extremely early yesterday and today.

Wednesday, April 8
A very exciting day -- BOTH kids learned to ride a bike this afternoon! I think I'll write a separate blog post about this, so look for it soon. This would have been quite an accomplishment in any case, but it feels even better to have done it during this time of isolation. It really feels like we really took advantage of this time together to learn a life skill. I feel good, and the kids are as proud of themselves as we are of them.

Friday, April 10
I remembered to get an extra dozen eggs when I was last at the grocery store, and the kids spent some 90 minutes dyeing and decorating them. Some things never change.

Saturday, April 11
Paul tried out a homemade no-sew mask for the first time when he picked up some take-out for supper. A little hard to breathe in, he said. I'll try mine out when I get groceries, probably at the end of the week.

Sunday, April 12
It was going to be an nontraditional Easter anyway, so we went all in. Instead of ham and potatoes, Paul make chicken tikka masala and some flatbread, and I baked a rose water tea cake.  I preferred the meal to the traditional holiday foods anyway.

That evening we watched a stage version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" on TV, and evidently something about the pandemic is getting through to the kids. One of the first things Atticus said of the performers? "They're spreading germs."

Atticus Turns 5

Atticus's fifth birthday last Thursday may not have been exciting, but it was memorable. He was pretty bummed that his family party was postponed, and equally sad that his friend party wasn't even scheduled. (This was the first year he was getting a friend party, poor boy.)

I still made a special layered chocolate cake in honor of the occasion, and he blew out candles. In an effort to make the day a little better, I texted my neighbors the day before to ask if their kids could chalk a birthday message or picture on their driveways. Unfortunately, a surprise pop-up shower that night washed them away! A few kids made new messages the next day, and I went out and redid my own drawings in the dark while Paul held a flashlight. But many of the neighbors went above and beyond, serenading him with "happy birthday" as he rode his scooter down the street.

Here's the annual list of what Atticus likes best nowadays Can it be any surprise that he received mostly Star Wars and Wall-E gifts?

5-year old Atticus's favorite ...
In his own words / [what I guessed]

• Food: Sweets / [pepperoni pizza and macaroni and cheese]

• Toy: Legos / [Legos]

• Book: Star Wars / [anything Star Wars]

• TV Show: "Star Wars TV show" / [Clifford]

• Movie: Star Wars and Wall-E / [Wall-E and Star Wars]

• Playground activity: Slide and swing / [sandbox]

• Color: "Blue and green and black and brown" / [Blue and green and black and brown]

• Animal: Monkey / [Brown Bear (his stuffed animal)]

• Song: Star Wars and Wall-E / ["Put on Your Sunday Clothes," from Wall-E via Hello, Dolly!]

• Game: Headache / [Chutes and Ladders]<-- almost="" and="" but="" chutes="" guessed="" i="" ladders="" li="" this="" went="" with="">

• Fruit: Pear / [grapes]

• Vegetable: Corn, cold. / [Cold corn and peas. He likes them frozen!]

• Breakfast: Froot Loops with milk in it. / [Froot Loops. To be fair (to me), this is a special treat!]