Time means nothing anymore. There is so little on our schedule that it’s hard to remember to keep an eye on the clock so we don’t miss the few appointments we do have. Still, we’ve fallen into a sort-of-rhythm that, on weekdays, looks something like this.
Usually everyone is awake by 8 AM. Breakfast is up to you; the girls are very good at helping their brother get something to eat.
Usually everyone is dressed for the day shortly after that. I refuse to live in pajamas, because then I’d do absolutely nothing, and I need at least a quick shower every day.
Before this week, we had a 9 AM Zoom meeting with Grandma B to get her “school” assignment for the day. We’d follow up most afternoons at 3:30. This week, with those touchstones gone, we’ve been more lax about starting schoolwork.
At one point Mila tried to implement a (far too rigid) daily schedule for us. She learned quickly how hard that can be to stick to when my day is dictated by a nursing napping baby. That’s when we started our daily to-do lists.
They’re almost identical each day. Mila and Margot both have reading, math, and time on Duolingo (Mila wants to learn French and Margot is adding to the Japanese she picked up at karate). Math is either worksheets (printed from emails sent by teachers until we picked up hard copies from the school) or Moby Max online. Reading is…whatever they are reading at the moment. That’s been everything from picture books to Harry Potter to Nancy Drew to Beverly Cleary to Shel Silverstein. Without library access at the moment I mostly just leave them to whatever they can find here.
Ryan has to spend some time reading with someone and playing either Endless Alphabet or Endless Numbers on the tablet. Everyone has to do PE of some kind. (We’re very flexible about what counts.) Mila has piano practice. And everyone gets a household chore for the day. Any classes or appointments also go on the list, more so they know what to expect from the day than anything else.
If they cross off every item on a given day, they earn some money: fifty cents for school-age kids, twenty-five for preschoolers.
And my list includes reading*, PE, Duolingo (Italian for me), now blogging, and any important household things that need to be done. Today that meant calling the hospital for an itemized bill, calling the dentist about rescheduling upcoming appointments, paying bills, and taking out the overflowing trash. Yesterday it was just making sure all the laundry was done.
Most of the time, everyone is done with school stuff before lunch. Then they play all kinds of weird games with legos or dress ups or every tiny toy they can find. The house gets destroyed more days than not. It has to be cleaned up before bed.
Some days I let them play Wii or watch Netflix if they get everything done. Some days I let them do those things regardless. It kind of depends on how well-behaved they’ve been and how much sleep I got the night before. *shrug*
Once a week, Mila has a half hour piano lesson via Zoom. Twice a week, Margot has dance class via Zoom. It’s not the same as in-person classes, but we’re grateful to keep up with them any way we can.
Bedtime has been slowly creeping later and later. Since they don’t have to be up for school, it’s hard to convince the girls they need to go to sleep at a certain time. Plus the days are growing longer. Blerg. We’ve tried to set a hard 8 PM bedtime with lights out at 8:30. Some nights that works better than others.
For a month or so, David worked almost exclusively from home. He set up his work laptop out in the garage, since the weather was beautiful and the kids are loud. More recently he has been working 3 days at the office and 2 at home. I’ve scheduled any doctor appointments Luke & I have had for days when David is home anyway. It’s been really convenient and definitely the best “paternity leave” arrangement we’ve ever had.
Before Luke was born, I tried to take the kids out on a “socially distant” nature walk somewhere once a week. And one weekend we drove out to Superior for a change of scene. That helped stave off some of the stir crazy. Since he was born, we’ve gone on another drive east and a mural crawl around downtown Phoenix, but it’s been hotter and a lot harder to get out with everyone.
Maybe as things slowly start reopening and we feel more comfortable being with people we don’t live with, we’ll have more to break up the week. I hope that’s the case, anyway. Every time I turn the page on my day planner, I have to erase something that has been long-canceled. It gets depressing when every day is much the same and there’s almost nothing to look forward to.
On the plus side, though, the kids get along remarkably well. They have great imaginations and are good at entertaining themselves and each other. I can’t fathom how we’d have survived the last two months together otherwise.
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