Life Under Coronavirus: Week Three

Day 15

Fifth Birthday During Coronavirus (Read Earlier Blog Post)

Day 16

We spent some time outside today. Andrew assisted me with clearing out one of the garden boxes.

Then after doing that, I helped him ride his bike. I am walking next to him holding the bike as he learns to pedal. We take a few rounds around the driveway and then he takes a fall on the cement, although it turns out to be a minor scrape.

In the afternoon Andrew helps with garden work. I am working on getting the yard already for summer planting. Working on the yard is keeping me from going inside and Andrew has been spending time with me outside. He has a small watering can with Paw Patrol characters and helped me water the plants.

Andrew helps me as I clear out the small garden I have down by the lake that I have flowers in. Here I put down the weed barrier and cut the holes for the flowers. This was a little harder since the plants were already there. It would have been easier to have it down first them put the plants in. Andrew has spent part of the day holding tools and shadowing me.

Day 17

That morning I needed to mow the lawn with our dying mower. It pours out a lot of smoke now when you use it. I am trying to get one more day out of it before the new mower comes. The yard had gotten a bit high so I needed to mow it. I got about half of it done before it died. I might try again tomorrow morning. At least I got part of the yard done.

Lunch seemed to come quickly. David had an important interview at 12 so I decided to take Andrew out to Sonic. You pull in and stay in your car. Trying to local businesses as best we can. Andrew is excited and is thinking it is related to Sonic the Hedgehog. Whatever makes him happy I guess.

I pull into the first carhop station and find the screen down. Andrew is shouting about something and I pull into the next one, but I do it wrong. I am tight to the wrong side. I try to correct, and overcorrect and can’t figure out how I am going to get out without hitting the other ordering screen.

I decide to go ahead and order and get Andrew a kid’s meal, we have a side of cheese sticks along with my meal.

When the guy comes out with the meal I ask if he can help me pull out. He signals me out and has me pull straight out. I was going to tip him but he ran off.

Andrew is still hungry and we also order some more tots and I decide to get some jalapeno poppers also. It was a good meal.

Back home I spend the afternoon working in the yard again. I have everything laid out for a garden box. I needed to redo the others. He helps some getting the box set right for a weed barrier to be put down. I will try to remember to get him to help tomorrow. I still need to put down another weed barrier, maybe he can put in the pens since that is pretty easy.

We also visited with neighbors checking out the kayak launch they put in along our lake. Everybody seems to be getting along as best they can. What is interesting all the kids in the neighborhood out and about. There are kids fishing down the way and then another one riding his bike. It is nice to see the kids out. It reminds me a bit of the 1970s when more parents are at home. I hope we take a bit of that when we get out of this.

Day 18

After working outside, Andrew, David and I played the game Trouble with Andrew. You push in a plastic bubble in the middle, which causes the die in it to bounce around. Then you move the number of spaces the die shows. The object is to get all four tokens to the finish line. There are ways that cause you to go in reverse, skip a player and you can land on a player’s space on the board and send them back home.

Andrew became frustrated when David one and he didn’t. His little blowup caused him some time in his room. He is still learning how to lose.

That afternoon I did some work in the yard as Andrew played outside. I cleared out some dead plants and dead leaves. He helped some with that also.

Then he was watching an episode of “Puppy Dog Pals” where they were bird watching. So we got two fold-up chairs out and we traded back and forth his red binoculars to look for birds. We saw some robins and since we live on a lake a blue heron, wood ducks and Canadian geese. He decided that we got a point for each bird. I saw seven and he won ten before he was ready to do something else.

Day 19

The big excitement for the day was the pre-school teacher parade at the parking lot at the YMCA. The other one we went to had the school district teachers, but this one had his actual teachers in it.

At about 3 pm in the afternoon, we pulled up to the parking lot and sat on the back. He waved to his friends and they shouted back and forth. It is a bit sad they can’t see each other closer because of social distancing. Such a strange new world we live in now. Yet, I am still happy they were all able to see each other again.

After visiting with each other from a distance the teachers came by. They decorated. The head of the school used Dr. Seuss decorations they had done in March for Dr. Seuss week. She even had the Lorax with Truffula trees. Andrew loves that movie. Another had streamers. His teacher had little hearts with the names of her students including Andrew on it. They talked with the kids and us as they slowly drove by.

David had set up a fund for the teacher assistants since they were not receiving pay like the teachers. They thanked him as they came by. I was glad he did this. We didn’t give the most to the fund, others really came through, but it was good to do this for them.

He said he hoped to go back to school soon so he can see his friends again. Sadly, I have no idea when that will be.

After the parade, we went through the drive-thru at the local ice cream place. It is always good to support local businesses then we headed home to have hotdogs for dinner.

Day 20

This morning I worked with Andrew on a Spiderman puzzle. It is one of those that has about 100 pieces and we do together. His grandmother had gotten for him. We’ve been doing a lot of puzzles together since we have all this time together now. He is getting better at it and did a lot of the puzzle himself.

We also do another round of match games with him. You put out all the superhero cards and match them up. The one nice thing about him being five is that you can do a lot of games with them now.

He watched some more Star Wars Rebels downstairs while I worked out. I usually read while I work out I am about done with “My Life in France” by Julia Child. I don’t follow as much her recipes, but enjoy it when she talks about the ups and downs of publishing, something I am familiar with.

It was rainy in the morning and cold in the afternoon so it was not a nice day to be outside. We only took a short walk with the dog today.

I read Harold and the Purple Crayon to him before he fell asleep. The book is about a kid who can do about anything with a purple crayon and is very imaginative. He fell asleep pretty quickly after I read.

Day 21

We had frozen waffles this morning for something different for Drew. It was Sunday, although each day seems to be the same as the kid at home.

I did my workout downstairs while he watched “Star Wars Rebels.”

After lunch he wanted to do a project. We had a science experiment kit that a friend had given us. The first one was using some tablets that turned the water blue and another substance that would thicken it into a test tube. Eventually, you put this gelatin-like blue substance in a long tube with two plastic stoppers that make it look like a wand. The substance also sparkles. I did most of the work and told him not to touch or eat the stuff. I think there are other experiments, so we will see how it all works. I followed the directions, but not sure about all the science part of it.

Then we played another game. This time it was one sort of like Candy Land, but involves web and getting to the safety of Spiderman’s home. You also take on Spiderman’s evil villains like Venom and The Lizard. I am beginning to wonder if we need to get more games. Luckily we also have puzzles. On the plus side at least he is old enough now to play games with.

After this, we watched the original Star Wars film now called A New Hope. I still find myself not liking the added features from the original, but still love all the characters.

He keeps asking about where’s Rey or Darth Maul. He saw the earlier films and the later ones, so now with such a big universe, it is a bit confusing. I am glad he liked the movie though.

We ended the day by walking with him with his glider bike and him riding it to a hilly street we have in the neighborhood. I just kept reminding him to stay to the right so cars can see you. I am glad he likes riding his bicycle and it is a good exercise for us all including the dog.