Saturday: Joshua

Isaac didn't want Joshua back in his bedroom.  Oh bother.  Joshua, as you may recall, hates sleeping by himself.  Well, we compromised on a fort in his room, under the loft.  It worked well because Joshua had worked really hard that morning to clean his bedroom.  It got a bit messy again once all the books were moved in, but at least while moving it in was clean.

Joshua had also been working on a present for me and made me wait until Saturday morning to get it.  He wasn't going to forget, but made me put up a reminder note anyway.  When I woke up there was a chair and the present sitting in the middle of the room.  It was a Lego brick in a necklace.  I faithfully wore it all day.

Friday: all's well that ends well

Joshua and I started out the day with a puzzle.  Isaac will sometimes join me, but Joshua seems to enjoy them more.

I also found some of his work from yesterday that I found funny.

Write an opinion piece to tell why you like a food the best.  Opinion: I love love pancakes.  Caption: Funny face pancakes  Reason 1: They are delicious.

Reason 2: You can bring them home! Reason 3: You can put syrup on them.

Fast forward to the time we were going to pick up Isaac.  I was in Ben's car because mine was having some work done.  I get to almost the end of the neighborhood road and suddenly I can't shift into gear anymore.  I try several gears.  I pull over to the side.  I still can't shift into gear.  It's a bit awkward since I don't drive this car much, but at the same time I am confident that something is wrong.  I restart the car (like a computer).  I call Ben.  We find out I can put the car in gear if the car is off, but then the car doesn't start.  He comes to the rescue, quickly leaving work to pick up Isaac.

While we were waiting Joshua did a good job of distracting me, although I managed to worry about a good many things.  We talked about the hazard lights, because I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've actually used them for a hazard.  (We were in a safe place, but it was pretty close to a minor intersection.)  I realized I had forgotten to turn off the dryer and so we talked about why you do that.  I realized that Joshua didn't have a coat because it was going to be a quick pick-up.  He told me he was warm though.

Before too long Ben arrived to save us.  (Let's be very thankful at this point that he had a work vehicle today!  There are other options and other people that could have helped, but it was nice to not bother them.)  Anyway, he gets to the car and diagnoses the problem right away: the clutch was stuck in.  He unstuck it and away we went.

While I did feel somewhat foolish for calling him home over such a slight problem, it's also never one I've encountered before.  It also isn't a car that I drive very often, so I didn't realize that the clutch wasn't moving properly.  We were both relieved to not have to deal with a bigger issue.

Thursday: back to school

Isaac went back to school today.  

He thought a rapid test before school would be a good idea, and so we did it.  It came back positive...and that threw us for a loop.  In the past I was pretty sure you needed a negative test before going back, but now there are two options...1) it is not recommended to take a rapid test - just mask. 2) Continue to quarantine or not at your convenience.  So we sent him to school.  This seems foolish, but here we are.

Joshua did fine by "himself".  He started his school work before I had even left for work at 7am.

Wednesday: home

 The day went well.  The craziness at the end of the day involved fighting with balloons.  It didn't involve hitting me, so it was mostly ok.

It's Isaac's last day home, so tomorrow the dynamics will change a lot.  Tomorrow is rather busy with trying to get everybody and everything in the right place at the right time.

Tuesday: mean parents

Today was a snow day.  Ben and I didn't tell the children.  You see, they were already going to stay at home.  Ben had to work while at home.  So they still needed some structure.

Ben did say they got more screen time than normal though, so even though they didn't know it was a snow day they still got some of the benefits.  Isaac was rather surprised that his teacher never posted any work on Google Classroom though. :)

Joshua got a bit camera happy while emptying the dishwasher.

Monday: positive

I woke up to Joshua's PCR results: negative.  Let's be honest though, I didn't really believe it.  So we subjected Joshua to yet another nasal swab for a rapid test and that clearly turned positive.

The day was fine, but by the end of the day I was done.  The kids did all their work without complaint, but they were bouncing off the walls by the end of the day and I was ...not.  They did some of their coding activities for a while and that helped...Horizon trapped me on the couch during that time so I had no choice but to read.

Sunday: normal day

Today was a pretty normal day, other than people wearing masks.  No one was sick.  

We're still waiting on Joshua's PCR results, but even if he gets a negative I will hesitate to send him to school.  It'll involve another rapid test and possibly a call to the doctor.