7/14:18

Pitching Debut

Ryan made his pitching debut! He was thrilled and terrified at the same time. There were a lot of walks... but also some amazing strikes. For a first outing, he did amazing. And he’s counting down the minutes until he gets another chance on that mound.

Hmm...

Today the best thing he did was take a shower. I guess we need to be glad about that, at least. But he seems to be a little confused on Womens Rights :) After he wrote this I asked him about it and he claimed that what he meant was that women do not currently have equal rights due to inequality issues. But, with this kid, who knows!

Soda Bottle Fruit Picker

We spent last night and today in Michigan, still trying to get a grasp of this new school year. Last night we made smores by the fire and today we went out to pick some apples.

The last farm had ladders (which were a big hit) but this farm had home made fruit pickers made from soda bottles. Using them was quite a maneuver, but ours didn't get used much for picking.

The boys turned ours into a weapon of battle. It was spun and flipped and whipped. Several eyes are lucky to still be part of faces. Because there was only one picker, there was also a battle over which kid got to hold it.

While they were dueling, Brooke decided that today would be the ideal time to let her anxiety about bees reach full frenzy level.

We walked away with 4 lbs of apples and no injuries and think that is pretty much a miracle.

Movie Night

The kids wrapped up a long week and were a bit feisty. We traditionally do movie & pizza on Fridays and decided to make sure we started the movie early tonight to ensure the kids were in bed at a reasonable time.

It was hard organizing them. They're distracted and agitated and have short fuses.

When I told them to get ready they all charged for the same spot. This is atypical, as they're all big into personal space. It was also a sign that they were looking for a fight. We got them separated and watched the movie. It was not seamless ... there were some squabbles. But, luckily, they all liked the movie and it kept the peace.

Happy to be done with this week! Hoping we will survive the ones to come.

Tales of Distance Learning

We still don't know how we feel about the kids being physically in school ... but I do know how I feel about them being home. The two oldest manage their time and work very proficiently. My biggest concern with them is whether or not they'll get a quality education this year. But the little one? He needs to be at school. At least, he needs to not be home.

Today he had "movement," which is basically PE. He complained that the stretching hurt and kept asking how long the class was. During another class he doodled while the teacher spoke. You know things are in a sad state when your proud your kids doodles are not inappropriate. Finally, during "library" he took his iPad and left the room. Unfortunately we left him unattended for a few minutes, which was a fail on our part. He went into his brothers room and was screamed at for interrupting class (this yelling was how we knew he was loose in the house). He then went to his own room and was blasting music. DURING class. He said it was fine because he was muted (though he couldn't hear the teacher) and told me he went to his room to find a comfy place to sit while listening to the library book (which was clearly a lie).

So, today he could barely make it though classes called Movement and Library. And he's home with us three days a week.

The one piece of good news is that tomorrow we get to drop him off at school. This is my motivation for waking up tomorrow morning.

Remote Learning

Today Brooke went to achool while the boys stayed home for remote learning. Brooke's day was fantastic. She had fun, she learned, she felt safe & comfortable. It was a great start.

Ryan is on day 2 of virtual learning. He's still struggling with where his ideal place is and what his ideal setup is, but we worked on that some today. But the timing is a bit of a trick ... and worse with Luke.

Today was Lukes first day of virtual learning. I will say his attention span is SLIGHTLY better than in the spring, where he couldn't watch a 5 minute lesson. But his need for interaction and engagement is so high, he insisted on engaging ME during class. With random stuff. He just couldn't not be heard while the teacher was talking. So he talked to me while she talked to them. But the bigger issue was the free time. He'd be set up for a 45 minute class, but it would only last 30. Then he'd have a 15 minute scheduled break ... that became 30 with the shortened lesson. These gaps were large. Honestly, even the 15 is a lot. I get they need to move and stretch, but at 6 he doesn't just keep to himself at that break. So we had these big pocket breaks where he'd use all of my time, expect to watch tv, want a snack. I got him to read during one break, but he read a few pages and then wanted to read with me.

So during his virtual learning school day he:
Talked to me during class
Talked to me during break
Tried to eat snack 6 times
Read two pages and made me read 2 chapters
Asked to play Fortnite
Asked to play Roblox
Asked to play Minecraft
Claimed he was going to go make his bed (I immediately knew this was a lie) but instead tried to steal candy from his sisters room.
Drew some doodles (during class)
Stalked a cat

And during that same time I ... literally got nothing done.


Back to School Pandemic Edition

 

First day of school for everyone, including a day for me (my second FTF). Luke went back to Catherine Cook, for the first time since March. He wore a mask and sat at a desk all day ... and had a great day! Brooke and Ryan both went virtually. There were some tech snags, but an overall smooth ride. Day 1 Complete!

It’s Over. Or is it Beginning?

The pandemic hit and we packed up and moved to Michigan. Now, almost 6 months later, we find it is time to go "home." It's weird to go back to a place we essentially abandoned months ago ... especially since not much has changed since we left!

I'm back to work, the kids are back to their sports, and school starts this week. We are not ready to leave Michigan and resume our Chicago life ... but we don't have a choice. Although we can always return, we will miss the lifestyle we had the opportunity to live these last few months. Nervously looking forward to what lies ahead.

Back At It

After a 6 month hiatus, she is back at it. While some kids continued to practice, we kept her out. A good part of that was for virus-safety reasons ... but another good part was us taking advantage of both the opportunity and excuse to disconnect from life and reconnect as a family.

She is now rolling back into trampoline at full-speed and starting the club volleyball season. Beginning this week, she now has practice 5 days a week.

Pandemic? What pandemic?

S'moreo

This might be our last night by the fire, unless we can pull one out tomorrow. We decided to try the smoreo (Oreo S'More). Ryan liked it so much he had 3, then he had a crazy reaction to the sugar (which is not unusual) and talked a mile a minute, bounced, paced and danced for the next 45 minutes. The rest of us thought they were ok ... but we are gonna stick with the old fashioned method in the future ;)

The Double Con

It was just me and the boys for most of the day. They decided to cuddle with me and hug me and praise me out of the kindness of their own hearts.

Actually, they were really nice trying to butter me up so I'd let them play Fortnite. I finally agreed and they thought they pulled one over on me.

Instead I got the day mostly to myself. I did 5 loads of laundry and 2 loads of dishes... which sucked. But I also got to watch an entire movie on Netflix. While in my bed. In the middle of the day.

Freedom

Summer is ending and I had work to do today, so I gave up on the parenting that and let the kids do whatever they wanted. They wanted to play video games. Shocker.

Brooke spent several hours in her bed gaming and FaceTiming and then spent several hours in my bed. At least she got a change of scenery.

I’m quite sure my 6 year spent at least 8 hours gaming online. In his underwear. But I made him do about 20 minutes of math first ... so it’s all good. Right?

Back to Campus

There was an accident on the road and my commute was horrendous. I was almost late. I walked into the building and saw lots of students not social distancing. I grabbed my brand new face shield, and it was a defect or something. The plastic was like etched glass, all white. Couldn't see out of it. Sent some panicked emails, eventually tracked down a new one. I've never been in my room before and couldn't really figure out the sound system. I had a new face shield that still creates a big of a foggy glare, similar to (really) dirty glasses. Several students had masks below their noses. Two removed them during class (not for the entire time, temporarily).




It's was a mentally exhausting process. I'm not sure if this becomes normal at some point, or if education becomes a permanent place of anxiety and frustration instead of a place of innovation and collaboration.