Staying At Home

During Minnesota's Stay-At-Home period, I have been thankful to have a large family. While it means a lot of extra work (we've been running the dishwasher twice a day + a daily load of hand-washed dishes), it also means a lot of options for a variety of social interactions during the day.

We have been playing lots of games together. Olivia's favorite is This Little Piggy (she grabs her toes to let us know she wants to keep playing if we stop). Spot-It is a favorite of Frankie's, but he can't play with Charlie or it ends in a fight. If we can get the 2 littlest ones asleep early, the rest of us can play games like Telsestrations and Catan. 

We haven't found too many activities the entire family can do. About the only thing we can do all together (well, almost...Olivia sits in her Bumbo at a distance and watches) is wrestle. 

The last time all 4 kids were attempting to pin Seth. They couldn't get close so I joined in to help. I am sad to say that it ended with Seth having all 5 of us at his mercy, pinned into one giant pig-pile. Several times. To be fair, Frankie and Charlie got in the way more than they helped. And Seth was a wrestler in high school, while I kept busy with things like Mock Trial and theater. 

Still pretty pathetic, though. 

If you watch to the end, you can see him pinning all the kids.

Social distancing

As coronavirus spreads, we are taking things day by day around here.

The exhausting part for me has just been making decisions. How much to limit contact with others; letting the kids play outside, but then suddenly having 5-10 neighborhood kids show up to join them (all boys, of course. Poor Elena!); whether Seth should go out to meetings at all; whether Frankie should still go to daycare, etc. 

I think I finally have a plan figured out for teaching Spanish online. I am so grateful that I just have the one class to plan for this year. I am learning that I really dislike recording myself, but I guess it's something I will have to get used to. 

Frankie just doesn't understand how everything can suddenly be closed because of this illness that he can't see. He keeps asking to go to the Thrift Store. I told him it might be closed for a few months, and he asked about 30 minutes later, "Has it been a few months? Is the Thrift Store open now?" 

It's looking like we will likely finish out the school year at home with "Distance Learning." We have survived the first 2 days. The older kids are pretty independent, although I am learning that I need to double check on them. 

Me: "Did you do everything?"

Sam: "Yep."

Me: "Even this?"

Sam: "Well, I couldn't figure it out."

Me: "That doesn't count as done, bub."

Quote of the day comes from Charlie when I told him we had to get started doing his school work:

"But I did it all yesterday."

Apparently we neglected to explain this sufficiently to Charlie.

On the bright side, we found a way to turn reviewing math facts from his most dreaded task to his favorite:

The Latest

We made it through our first day of "distance learning." It went well, but I was kept on my toes NON-STOP between helping all 3 school aged kids and keeping the baby and Frankie happy. There was really no time for anything else.At one point, Elena said, "Yeah, I see why you decided not to homeschool now..."

I've been mistaken for a homeschooling mom on more than one occasion, and I was determined to do it when we first became parents, but life had other plans....and now I guess life has decided to give us a taste of it after all :)

I am expecting our success to spiral downwards as the weeks drag on. As Olivia gets more mobile, that will add an extra challenge. But for today, the kids did great and got to spend a good 5-6 hours playing outside in the sun.

Seth's grandparents are back from Texas and isolated in their homes to protect them from coronavirus. Seth got their groceries & mail today while the kids and I each popped over to wave at them through their living room window a few times.

And now for a few of Frankie's recent quotes:

Frankie: Yep! I can tell that Olivia is a girl!
Me: How can you tell?
Frankie: Her hair is getting longer.
This conversation might not have been very funny if it hadn't been for where it took place: they were taking a bath.

And Frank's description of a scab: "It's bloody, but it's not....like....moving."

Also, Frank found a creative way to use his bulldozer toy today:

He pushed her all the way across the kitchen floor several times, and she loved it! 

Scooching

None of our previous babies have much liked being on their bellies when they were little, but they all eventually got used to it and started crawling. It looks like Livi might be an exception here. She was sitting without help early and has continued to prefer that position to any other when she is on the floor. We are still doing tummy time and encouraging her to crawl, but she is determined to get around in other ways. This week she started scooching around the room on her bottom. She does it in a way that almost looks like she's not moving, but then suddenly she is several feet away from where she started.

Her biggest motivators to scooch: messing with Charlie's toys and grabbing all the cards when we play Spot It or any other card games.

More from Charlie

During prayers last night, out of the blue, Charlie said, "If someone ever dared me to smash a crucifix...." Here he paused as we waited for him to say that he wouldn't do it.

Instead he finished with, "....I would give up all my chickens."

Huh?

Since Seth and I were not following the logic - and couldn't stop laughing to even ask him what that meant - Elena explained that she had made up a game called Chickens or Dare (as opposed to Truth or Dare). Each player gets 3 chickens and if they don't do a dare, they loose a chicken or something.

I also have to share this text I got from his friend's mom when Charlie and Frankie went over to play. I am just glad she found it funny!

As interesting as Charlie can be, he apparently doesn't realize it. Here is a sample of a recent assignment that Charlie brought home. Thank you, Captain Obvious:

Who doesn't love a good baby belly laugh?