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Quarantine Check-in

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As I write this, we’ve effectively been in quarantine for, what, how many months now? I don’t even know.  Five months? Six? It seems impossible, but it just might be right.

We started off in a pretty strict quarantine just like we were supposed to, going out only for groceries or the occasional takeout food. Our anniversary trip to the beach got canceled, as did lots of other events that we typically attend.  We just found out that Dragon Con, a huge science fiction/fantasy convention in Atlanta, has decided to go virtual for this year. We rolled over our memberships until next year, hoping for the best. It was going to be the kids’ first convention, and we still can’t wait to see how it blows their minds.

As time’s gone on, we’ve had to take some calculated risks.  We’ve always been good about masks, and we still haven’t gotten into any big gatherings.  But our son has had a couple of playdates with kids who were also doing their own quarantines, so we all felt the odds were good. I had to be a pallbearer at a funeral, so I wore my mask to that, and the crowd was small.  My wife had to take a trip downstate to see her family.  So while the rest of our state was reopening like gangbusters and subsequently reaping the consequences, we still stayed pretty much to ourselves as much as we could.  I don’t say that in any kind of smarter-than-thou way; we’re just introverts and generally stay away from other people anyway.  Well, most of us. My son’s the most social creature I’ve ever met, so the lock-down has been especially hard on him.

It’s been especially hard because his sister, the only other kid he sees 99% of the time, is on the high-functioning end of the spectrum.  Its most obvious manifestation is in social interactions.  We can remember when our kids were toddlers, and our son would be in his car seat just talking away, and getting nothing out of his sister. No matter how much we coaxed, or tried to coach her in how to participate in conversations, it never quite took. And to be honest, a little damage was done to their relationship. After a while, our son just kind of gave up on his sister as any kind of conversational partner.

Now, they get along fine, but they get on each other’s nerves just like any other brother and sister.  And they have conversations about cartoons or games or YouTube videos –  when she’s in the mood.  But quarantine has shortened their patience with each other’s quirks, and they both have their fair share of quirks.  Our daughter has a pretty linear concept of conversation. She asks a question and will accept an answer only from the person she’s either explicitly or implicitly asking, and our son loves to break in with an answer. This sets her off to yelling at him for ruining the answer, and he responds with something along the lines of “I can talk!” and we go through our routine of explaining to our daughter that conversations – especially in families – aren’t always neat with clean lines.  And we remind our son that his sister is still learning, and that he needs to show some patience.  Still,, they’re really getting on each other’s nerves right now.   She also hates getting pestered. Unfortunately, she has a little brother, and sometimes that’s all they do.

Such are family dynamics, especially when you see each other 24/7.

My wife has been great about getting us some variety over the last couple of months.  We rented a cabin in the mountains for a couple of days, giving the kids a much-needed change of scenery.   Unfortunately, the s’mores were a bust because a light rain had dampened everything, but the kids still had a good time.   There’s a local pizza place with outdoor seating that the kids love, so we’ve gotten over there a few times.  Things like that.  I’m prone to completely losing track of the calendar, thinking only about three days have passed when it’s actually been two weeks, so those essential diversions aren’t things I’d think of in a timely fashion.

So essentially, we’re in the same boat as so many others, just trying to get from day to when the days don’t have as much meaning (calendrically speaking, if that’s even a word), trying to justify decent bed times to  the kids and just keeping this ship afloat.  

Hope all y’all stay safe.


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