practicing gratitude

I was feeling really depressed for a few days after my birthday. Sad about the lack of contact with friends and colleagues; sad about the lack of solitude at home; frustrated with the kids' choices and their bickering and the difficulty of creating a home-schooling schedule and expectations; depressed by the estimates of how long this will go on; anxious about the long-term effects on politics, the economy, on the kids' psychology and schooling. I went for a long run in Forest Park on Sunday morning, and baked an apple cake, and felt better. So here's a post about things I'm grateful for, despite the virus and quarantine.

I'm grateful for our comfy home, and good food. I've been baking a lot - blueberry cake, chocolate cake, apple cake, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, buttermilk waffles, rye biscuits. I've also made some delicious dinners that we've all been able to enjoy together, at the same time, every night.

We've been playing sports together every day at the field - basketball, baseball/softball, soccer - carving out a space for our family to play, and seeing other families also playing together. It's sweet to see moms and dads playing catch and going for walks around the neighborhood with their kids, each family unit isolated from others but together. I'm grateful that we have each other and a good place to run around.

Seb has been inviting Liesl to play with his things -- toys that she's never been allowed to touch --  mini-basketball in his room, including a lesson in dunking; laser tag wars around the house and on the street; a lesson in how to shoot nerf guns at Lego people -- and yesterday they constructed a blanket fort in his room and camped out in it for half a day, reading books and eating snacks. They have their unpleasant moments, but they are also having more good moments of collaboration, connection, and laughter. I am happy that they are still both young enough to play together, and that they have each other.

Sebastian, Jasper, and I went for a 4-mile run today on the Rock Creek trail, which was delightful; yesterday I did a Zoom dance class and workout video with Liesl, also delightful. Since we were asked to stay home on March 13th, I've been averaging 7.5 miles of walking/running a day, so I guess I'll be in amazing shape after this virus is gone.

There have been lots of walks with Seb and Liesl in the neighborhood, looking for painted rocks and collecting Pokemon. Some local families have collaborated to paint and hide rocks all around the trails and streets of Forest Heights -- there's a whole FB group dedicated to showcasing rocks placed and rocks found -- and it has made our daily walks feel like a treasure hunt. I love the way that fellow moms have found a way to bring beauty and surprise to the same trails; plus, we are surrounded by talented artists.

This was an off-trail exploration of a water duct tunnel that runs under Miller Road. They were considering following it all the way through, but it was too dark and we didn't have flashlights.

After watching the movie Dodgeball together (Steve claims to have skipped the truly inappropriate parts), we had a hilarious session of family dodgeball on the street. And then on Sunday we created a chalk-drawn obstacle course in front of our house that we all participated in, some more successfully than others (30 jumping jacks? 15 push-ups?).

 

 

 

I am so grateful for E-books, and multiple library accounts to access more of them. What would we do without an endless supply of books? And enthusiastic readers?

Also grateful to technology, particularly Zoom and FaceTime, allowing Seb and Liesl to connect with friends and cousins, and me to connect with my parents and students. Liesl has had a number of Zoom playdates, which alternate between show-and-tell, games on the whiteboard, and (fascinatingly), games of Go Fish and War with Maya.

 Jasper, serving as my desk.

I am so grateful for the resilience of children, and their ability to adapt and even flourish in these uncertain times and strange conditions. Sebastian has expressed even some happiness that there's more time and less scheduled activities. Liesl is more sad about missing her friends and activities, but also more able to fill her days with a variety of arts and crafts and other projects.

And lastly, I'm so happy to see the flowers and greenery of an Oregon spring -- trilliums and forsythia, the cherry, dogwood, and magnolia trees, daffodils and tulips, ferns unfurling -- everything so green. And as I've been writing this post and thinking, it turns out that many of my favorite things -- running and walking on forest trails, baking and cooking, playing sports and games, being with my family -- are still available to me, and in that I am luckier than most.

isolation, week 2

Scenes from our second week of social distancing ... we survived just fine, although the cold rain was not welcome. Steve and I got some work done; the kids read books, did a little math work, and did a little writing in their journals. I went to the grocery store, so we ate well.

A 550-piece puzzle of pets, put together mainly by Steve and Liesl.

 A game night -- Racko, Double Ditto --

 Stop motion animation film, using Legos.

 A sheep shearing:

 Many walks around the neighborhood - the play structures are now all roped off with caution tape.

Today's craft project: origami!

 

 Indoor seated/kneeling downball and balloon volleyball games:

 Jasper snuggles:

 Liesl wearing one of Grammy's sweaters:

 Movies, tv shows, games --  screen time of all sorts.