Dear E and M,
We’ve now been home for about a 6 weeks now since schools closed mid-March with COVID-19 taking over the world. So life lately really is just super weird. I keep waking up hoping for some “normalcy” and then realize that this IS our new normal. I’ve been cooking a ton, baking bread and thumb print jam cookies like millions of other people are doing as a coping mechanism, and thank goodness, still photographing. We’ve been spending A LOT of time together as a family, finally hanging up art work that we’ve been meaning to hang up since we’ve moved in and I’m working on getting our hallway gallery printed and hung..so we’ve been fortunate to be able to slow down and stay home instead of many who aren’t able to do so.
I think we were all doing pretty well until parks and beaches closed early April; I instantly felt as if our world was different, a lot smaller with my favorite part of living in Ventura taken away (for a good cause). The day after they closed, you guys both asked to go on a hike..to get out…get fresh air. It pained me to tell you that we couldn’t do that because of COVID-19 but that this will keep everyone safer. Since then, we’ve adjusted. You guys go on a bike ride or scooter ride usually twice a day to get your energy out. E, you started having to do homework as part of her distant learning, some days you’re super motivated and some days there are some major power struggle! There were also starting to be zoom calls everywhere, so I added scheduler and IT to my resume.
I started this new stay-at-home journey trying to be the best homeschool mom -lesson planning and creating all these art activities..but soon got burnt out. I apologize for being upset when activities didn’t pan out as I fantasized! For all of our mental health sake, I took it way easy and I think we now have a routine that isn’t too bad - some work, a lot of play and down time. To make life more fun during lock down, your dad taught you guys to play Mario Kart and you learned to bust some awesome moves playing Just Dance on the Wii. I’ve caught M singing Britney Spears’s “Hit Me Baby One More Time” on more than one occasion. We swear that your team work has also improved dramatically since playing Mario Kart.
E, we celebrated your 7th birthday at the end of March with grilled pizzas for lunch, strawberry cupcakes, a birthday car parade with 10 families who came honking/cheering/blowing bubbles out of their decorated cars. You were such a good sport about the fact that we wouldn’t be having a big party with friends and family and focused on spending your special day doing things you wanted to do with just the four of us. You’ve been loving your new skateboard from your Nonnie (and getting surprisingly good at it) and Twisty Petz that you’ve been asking for for months (you wear them all at once)! We are so proud of the really cool person you are.
Truth is your father and I sometimes fantasize what lockdown would be like if we were still just the two of us…naps, netflix, take out, drinks. Oooo..sounds nice, right? But there surely would not be daily lessons of learning one’s patience level before going over the edge, all those giggles, being in awe of how you guys are growing, finding our own boundaries so we don’t go crazy, and learning to find extra space in my heart to be there for you even when I don’t want to be. I love you guys infinity much.
Love,
Mama
