Mom, Your Computer Has a M!
We are starting to get into the swing of social isolation. We know that we're very lucky; Mike's job was already remote and isn't likely to be impacted too much by the closures (his company makes software that other companies use to do payroll and HR stuff), and we already homeschooled. But we had social activities every day of the week, and losing all of them at once was really difficult for us. It took a while to get a hang of things.
The kids discovered that they can play their imagination games with friends over the video messaging app Marco Polo (thanks, Amy, for the tip!). We set up an old phone for them (after a few days of them using Alison's phone for hours until the battery died), and we find them crawling under the table whispering into the phone, "I have to hide! Someone's coming!" or such. They love getting Marco Polos back and run off to watch them immediately (although the new phone is quieter, so they've been less responsive the past few days).
Alison is extremely relieved. The way we survive everyone being home in such a small place is that the kids spend several hours a day playing imaginatively with each other, so Alison can have some time being less involved with the kids. They are very good at playing, but they need at least weekly infusions of other ideas (ie multi-hour play marathons with friends) or they start fighting and not playing together and then bugging Alison to amuse them. Alison was very, very worried about how social isolation would affect that. Marco Polo seems to fill that need, though, so now she thinks we can survive the isolation for however long it lasts.
We also decided, after reading the CDC recommendations and praying about it, that we will do a weekly hiking date with our best friends the Dalyais. We did the first one on Wednesday. The moms spend most of the time reminding the kids that they were supposed to stay 6 feet apart. They weren't very good about it. But they were very good about not touching each other or anything the other person had touched, and the CDC does allow for outdoors activities between two families in their advice. We think they'll get better about the 6 feet rule.
Alison struggled with an episode of her anxiety and depression this week, so the kids had lots of time to play (basically, we did spring break this past week instead of in two weeks from now). Alison is feeling better today, so we plan to get back on schedule tomorrow.
Mike rather likes everyone being home when he gets off work, instead of being off at all our extracurriculars. We're going to go outside every day when he gets off work, and Mike and Alison can work on our yard. We bought some seeds from a local farmer who breeds seeds that overwinter and self-seed in Alpine, Utah, and we're hopeful that they'll do as well in our yard. We're converting part of the goat yard to a garden; when we get goats back, we'll move the fence so they have a little less space and we can grow things. We also need to finish spreading the woodchips from the trees we had cut down and decide what to do with the chunks of trunk. And Mike has already started uprooting the tree of heaven saplings; he's pulled up over a hundred so far.
When we were at Grandma Sheila and Papa Mike's house, Alison realized that she finally does feel like our house is a little small and we could use more room. It was so nice for all the kids to play in their vaulted-ceiling great room and not be as loud or as crowded as they are at home. We also really need a second bathroom. Since coming home, we've talked about it off and on. Sunday afternoon Mike decided to measure the whole house and yard and look at how we could fit things together. He's making some cool plans for additions we could build; we will share them as he completes them. It's very theoretical, but maybe in a year or so we'll decide to alter our house. Or we may move. It's all up in the air.
Gideon says, "We have a food storage, and we found lots of flour that we have to make (into bread)." For Primary today, we talked about how God commanded Mormon to add the small plates for a reason he knew not, and how God prepares us with commandments even if we don't understand them. We talked about how ministering, home-centered church, and food storage prepared us for the pandemic, and so after church we went around the house and identified all our food storage. We can easily live for three months on just what we have stored and we have enough calories to live six months to a year, even if it's not balanced after the first three months. That's a nice feeling.
Gideon also says, "We like to take baths. We were playing outside in the rain. I love baby Elizabeth."
The kids discovered that they can play their imagination games with friends over the video messaging app Marco Polo (thanks, Amy, for the tip!). We set up an old phone for them (after a few days of them using Alison's phone for hours until the battery died), and we find them crawling under the table whispering into the phone, "I have to hide! Someone's coming!" or such. They love getting Marco Polos back and run off to watch them immediately (although the new phone is quieter, so they've been less responsive the past few days).
Alison is extremely relieved. The way we survive everyone being home in such a small place is that the kids spend several hours a day playing imaginatively with each other, so Alison can have some time being less involved with the kids. They are very good at playing, but they need at least weekly infusions of other ideas (ie multi-hour play marathons with friends) or they start fighting and not playing together and then bugging Alison to amuse them. Alison was very, very worried about how social isolation would affect that. Marco Polo seems to fill that need, though, so now she thinks we can survive the isolation for however long it lasts.
We also decided, after reading the CDC recommendations and praying about it, that we will do a weekly hiking date with our best friends the Dalyais. We did the first one on Wednesday. The moms spend most of the time reminding the kids that they were supposed to stay 6 feet apart. They weren't very good about it. But they were very good about not touching each other or anything the other person had touched, and the CDC does allow for outdoors activities between two families in their advice. We think they'll get better about the 6 feet rule.
Alison struggled with an episode of her anxiety and depression this week, so the kids had lots of time to play (basically, we did spring break this past week instead of in two weeks from now). Alison is feeling better today, so we plan to get back on schedule tomorrow.
Mike rather likes everyone being home when he gets off work, instead of being off at all our extracurriculars. We're going to go outside every day when he gets off work, and Mike and Alison can work on our yard. We bought some seeds from a local farmer who breeds seeds that overwinter and self-seed in Alpine, Utah, and we're hopeful that they'll do as well in our yard. We're converting part of the goat yard to a garden; when we get goats back, we'll move the fence so they have a little less space and we can grow things. We also need to finish spreading the woodchips from the trees we had cut down and decide what to do with the chunks of trunk. And Mike has already started uprooting the tree of heaven saplings; he's pulled up over a hundred so far.
When we were at Grandma Sheila and Papa Mike's house, Alison realized that she finally does feel like our house is a little small and we could use more room. It was so nice for all the kids to play in their vaulted-ceiling great room and not be as loud or as crowded as they are at home. We also really need a second bathroom. Since coming home, we've talked about it off and on. Sunday afternoon Mike decided to measure the whole house and yard and look at how we could fit things together. He's making some cool plans for additions we could build; we will share them as he completes them. It's very theoretical, but maybe in a year or so we'll decide to alter our house. Or we may move. It's all up in the air.
Gideon says, "We have a food storage, and we found lots of flour that we have to make (into bread)." For Primary today, we talked about how God commanded Mormon to add the small plates for a reason he knew not, and how God prepares us with commandments even if we don't understand them. We talked about how ministering, home-centered church, and food storage prepared us for the pandemic, and so after church we went around the house and identified all our food storage. We can easily live for three months on just what we have stored and we have enough calories to live six months to a year, even if it's not balanced after the first three months. That's a nice feeling.
Gideon also says, "We like to take baths. We were playing outside in the rain. I love baby Elizabeth."
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