I Spy

Every once in a while Ella puts together an I Spy.  It's creative which she loves, but also forces her to work on some more challenging language skills.  If you're easily amused like us during these weeks of quarantine, you may enjoy her work.

Covid-19 Diaries Week 1

I keep reminding Ella this is a historic time that she'll be telling her grand-kids about some day. So, I thought I'd journal a little to help her remember.

Day 1 March 14: The schools in Ohio have been instructed to close.  Our family has postponed the vacation we had booked for spring break.  We're hunkered down on a rainy day with some homemade curry, chess pie, books and movies.

Day 2 March 15: A pretty typical Sunday for us.  Spent some time in the backyard, grilled burgers, watched sitcoms, kids played.  Governor DeWine ordered restaurants and bars closed, except for carry-out, delivery, and drive-through.

Day 3 March 16: Home school activities in the morning, afternoon outdoors on the trampoline, swings and around the campfire (bonus: all the fallen branches were picked up from around our property to feed the fire).  We made grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire to boot. A before and after photo from this day below (the after doesn't really do justice to the mess):

Day 4 March 17: St Patrick's Day and only one of us can claim to have any Irish ancestry.  We still incorporated the day into our home school work.  I am not ashamed to say we listened to The Cranberries to represent something Irish.  We also read W. B. Yeats (about whose work particularly regarding fairy lore I once wrote a lengthy paper in college).  Leftovers for lunch and once the sun came out in the afternoon, we went outside.  The Primary Election scheduled for today was postponed overnight.

Day 5 March 18: The rains have arrived, so that makes things harder.  Got the school work done and just relaxed.  I feel a great need to cook and bake to the point where after dinner last night I made double lemon buttermilk muffins.  Nothing productive ever happens after dinner if you're me in a non-emergency state.

Day 6 March 19: First day of spring, mild but dreary and wet.  Got through the school work, but not feeling motivated for much at all.  Ella and I started reading Home of the Brave and Emilia is doing an amazing job learning to locate countries on a map.  After just one day working on this, she can independently locate six countries, our home city, and the state where her grandma lives. Things tend to be calm until just before dinner and then for some reason the crazy breaks loose until bedtime.

Day 7 March 20: We got a few hours of sunshine today and made good use of them before the temp is forecast to drop 40 degrees.  Craig ventured out for a solo weekly grocery run (store well stocked) and in order to support local small business, we got carry out lunch from our little corner cafe.  Our plan is to do this once or twice a week for local restaurants until the social and physical restrictions are lifted. School work check, provisions check, house not totally falling apart (yet) check.  Ready to binge Homeland now.

This and that from Week 1

*Less laundry because we don't get dressed or fully dressed each day.

*My child who struggles to eat and drink due to (school) anxiety is chowing down like there's no tomorrow.

*So thankful for our backyard when it's not raining.

*A little academic work goes a long way.

*We've made it through without increasing daily tech time so far.

*Mad Men and The Office - enough said.

*168+ hours in quarantine so far.  No one in, only Craig out as necessary.

Happy 11th Birthday, Rex!

Happy birthday to our only son, our middle kiddo, our resident snuggler, head of mischief, connoisseur of fine Italian meats, expert foot stomper, tickle seeker, lover of barber shops, home improvement stores and hiking trails, giggle meister, overcomer, owner of a big and devoted heart, loved in four countries, and the all around best son and big/little brother we could ever have.

We say it all the time

and you know it so well:

we love you without limits,

you are more than enough.

Keep living forward, beautiful boy,

and we'll gratefully come along

for the extraordinary adventure.

Pablo and Frida

For the final day of Art Appreciation Week at school, may I present the grand finale: Pablo and Frida...

(Homeschool) Picture Of The Day

I am not sure that science and interior design always go hand in hand, but clearly our guest bath needed some sprucing up. #homeschoolertotherescue

Sand Tray Therapy

As part of her trauma informed occupational therapy our littlest child has recently been working with sand tray therapy.  It's largely self-directed with minimal guidance from the OT, particularly during the time that the child actively free plays with the desired choices from among the provided items. 

Through this approach, we have already seen our daughter address - essentially on her own - the issue of having two mothers by creating a world in which her two mothers were able to have a long and deep conversation before they began to jointly take care of the miniature figure representing their shared child.  It takes my breath away that my little girl wishes for her first mother and for me to be able to communicate and parent her together.

In another session, our little one buried representations of herself and two other children repeatedly.  Burying is common in sand tray therapy, so her therapist let it unfold organically.  Based on our child's personal history, there are multiple possible interpretations for why she felt buried along with other kids.  Finally after about a dozen cycles of being buried and being brought back to light, our beautiful girl pulled the figurine depicting herself from the sand, looked at me and said, "Mama."  After uttering just this one word she dropped everything into the tray and walked away from an activity she had been engaging in for 45 minutes.  Seemingly, the concept of mama, so simple and yet so incredibly complex, along with my presence had provided the solution and healing she needed in that moment.

Valentine's Day 2020

For the last two weeks our family has been riddled by various illnesses and the kids have missed plenty of school, needing lots of rest as well as time and attention from mama and daddy.  I unapologetically scrapped plans for a Valentine's gathering with friends at our home and just tried to survive.  Some lucky frozen pizzas, several in-need-of-attention counter tops, and patiently waiting mountains of laundry later, I found myself considering Valentine's Day and how we might celebrate just a little bit in the chaos.  Fortunately, I had already bought the kids Valentines for school from an adoption fundraiser and two out of three kids were well enough to hand theirs out in person.  But I was not in the frame of mind to create a special meal for our family, so pre-made to the rescue: canned soup, a roll of pizza dough, eggnog and Betty Crocker.  And voila!

Meanwhile, friends and neighbors, unaware of our situation, showered us with cookies and cupcakes from local bakeries this week.  Just those little gestures of love were enough to help us get through the feverish hours, the piles of tissues, and the words "I am very hurting."

And then today, we got the mail and my too-far-away friend, one of the few who's been aware of the Code Orange around here lately, showered me with treats that she knows will lift my spirits through this stretch.  And sometimes, even on Valentine's Day, you can get by with a little help from your friends.

Happy Valentine's Day!