Social Distancing Diaries: Day 11

Dear Diary

I’m relieved that there are enriching activities available to the children.

It’s getting harder to think of interesting things to write about. We’ve fallen into somewhat of a routine and I’m pretty much ok with it. I feel that the kids are figuring out how to occupy themselves and it does not *always* involve an electronic device. 

Eden is obsessed with massive dot-to-dot books. She received a few for her birthday back in February and is working through one. She literally spends hours a day on it. I don’t know how she can even read the numbers; in this book each picture goes up to 1,000. 

Lily announced today that she thinks she might even get back to the math app that the school uses. Tom had come up with a writing prompt for them today but everyone pretended not to see his paper laying on the counter, so we’ll save that for tomorrow.

The twins are in full swing with their college class work, which, incidentally provides a great excuse when asked to wash the dishes or clean the bathroom. <insert slightly panicked voice> “But I have *work* I have to do!”

When it came time for our Daily Outing to go pick up the school lunches, I said to the girls, “Do you want to go for a ride?” and they jumped up, eager to go for a drive. Which led Lily to remark, “It’s like we’re dogs!”

I had a direct request from a friend asking for masks for the employees of their family’s essential business. So yesterday and today I have been in mask production mode. I’ve been able to use up a bunch of small pieces of fabrics that I have no emotional attachment to. But the masks are for grown men, so I’ve tried to keep that in mind as I was selecting fabric.

This afternoon Ellen and I stretched our legs on a walk after the sunshine came out. Which led to Today’s Best Quote: “You can’t do counseling using flashcards!” I surmised that since the same troubling topics keep coming up among the girls during this quarantine that I could save time by just whipping out the appropriate response from my deck of counseling flashcards. This idea was poo-poo’ed by Ellen. But she might be open to pre-recorded messages accessed by an automated phone menu. Also amusing was how Ellen lamented having to “prepare” her meals at home. I said, “You mean, after I have purchased and put away and then actually prepared the meals, you are complaining about having to re-heat the leftovers because that’s SO MUCH WORK?” Yes, in fact that was what she meant. <Don’t get the wrong idea—this is all in fun. Ellen is a very big help around the house!>