Day #56: James's Birthday Eve
One of the tough things about challenging myself to do this every day...ish....is that one day is kinda a lot like the next. We don't have a lot of variety to our lives these days. Today was a bit different.
Today I actually sat with James during his kindergarten zoom meeting because today they were celebrating his birthday (they don't do a zoom meeting on Thursdays, his actual birthday is tomorrow.) Yesterday we made a crown (there was glitter glue, we survived) for him to wear and we prepped answers to the questions kids get asked when they are the birthday VIP person. Of course he went off book a little when actually asked the questions, but we made it through okay. Of course then he freaked out and started crying when he didn't have the right paper to write on during the math lesson that followed, so, you know, nice to be normal.
After zoom, we watched some Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. James and I read a picture book biography of Fred Rogers in late February and that made us get some DVDs of the original shows from the 1980s from the library, and we had those when the libraries shut down so we have them still. I felt like Mr. Rogers would be soothing today. I felt like I needed soothing.
I was right! One of the episodes we watched had Mr. Rogers going to a trolley museum and then a flying trolley arrived in the Land of Make Believe...it was so fun. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood is a children's show that you can watch as an adult and not want to blow your brains out, take note. At the end, he showed the kids how to make a trolley (out of cheese boxes...is cheese coming in a box something I should remember? I guess I was younger than James is now when these episodes were released, so that was a pretty long time ago.) So we made a trolley this afternoon and of course we attached a balloon to it so it could "fly."
Balloons have been a thing. I bought a couple of packages on Monday for James's birthday and have been slowly doling them out ever since...he only gets two a day and when they pop they pop and there are ALWAYS tears. I told him...balloons pop. That's what they do. It's not your fault, no one is mad, but once a balloon pops it is gone and does not return. After the first balloon loss of the day we listened to the chapter from Winne the Pooh about Eeyore's birthday because it features a popped balloon. I was able to grab that audiobook from the library. It helped...at least a little. Tomorrow is James's actual birthday and I don't know what to expect. At some point I need to construct a cake. He wants to eat pizza for dinner. And there will be balloons. And a surprise socially distanced guest. That's all I got.
Two things that are going on outside our house that are on my mind tonight: first, my dad fell down on his front steps yesterday. Right on his face. He didn't want to go to urgent care. I don't blame him. Both my sister and I talked to him on the phone It's hard to not be able to see him. Well, he made it to the doctor this morning and was diagnosed with a mild concussion and a bad scrape on his face from his glasses. Time and rest should cure him. So that's good news. But hard. We won't be able to see him for awhile, even with social distance, and it's James's birthday so that's tough. Of course his health comes first. And it's just so hard to be separated from him at this time in his life. And he's frustrated. He wants to get his hair cut, he wants to get his glasses fixed. All reasonable requests, all closed. Businesses that didn't seem essential a few weeks ago are starting to feel more essential as this drags on. I get it. Being hurt just isolates him even more. But I'm so grateful he's okay.
The other thing that's going on is I'm supposed to be in a wedding in about 4 weeks. I chatted with the bride a bit last night. I feel for her. I've been through having a wedding, it's stressful, and I can't imagine having a global pandemic throw it all off. She wants to keep her wedding date and just have it be small. I totally understand that and want to support her but I"m not willing to break social distance. If she wants me to stand 6 feet away and witness, I'm all in but I can't do more than that. I hope she understands. It is a tough situation and I feel just awful about it. I like supporting people and want to do right by her but I have to make myself set boundaries because I'm not super good at it. I have to protect my family. That's what social distance is for. And it's really hard because we don't know what 4 weeks from now will look like. Maybe a lot more things will be open. Maybe some of the restrictions will have been lessened. A bit. Maybe not. But it's not going to be normal. There aren't going to be huge group gatherings. Not for awhile. And that's going to take some getting used to for all of us.
Today's media consumption, besides Mr. Rogers...I'm still working on both my books, the poetry of the Blue Mountains in Australia and a YA novel about a baseball pitcher sidelined with injury. Enjoying both very much, both are good reads for right now for different reasons. I want to finish both of them by tomorrow so I can win unread book bingo on Instagram. Still listening to Anne of Green Gables on audio, that will go into next month. Also, I may have placed a big order for books at an indie bookstore today. Oh, well. TV was just Mr. Rogers and dabbled a little more with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. It's been fun to watch that but it's getting less fun as the seasons go on. You don't notice that with shows when you aren't binging.
I'm headed to a zoom girls night in just a few minutes so I will close with my thank yous. I'm grateful for Max's amazing monster pants, Mr. Rogers, the last of the bubble solution, good books, reading to James, reading to Max, indie bookstores, balloons, Winnie the Pooh, sunshine, showers. sandals, and health and safety for all.
Today I actually sat with James during his kindergarten zoom meeting because today they were celebrating his birthday (they don't do a zoom meeting on Thursdays, his actual birthday is tomorrow.) Yesterday we made a crown (there was glitter glue, we survived) for him to wear and we prepped answers to the questions kids get asked when they are the birthday VIP person. Of course he went off book a little when actually asked the questions, but we made it through okay. Of course then he freaked out and started crying when he didn't have the right paper to write on during the math lesson that followed, so, you know, nice to be normal.
After zoom, we watched some Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. James and I read a picture book biography of Fred Rogers in late February and that made us get some DVDs of the original shows from the 1980s from the library, and we had those when the libraries shut down so we have them still. I felt like Mr. Rogers would be soothing today. I felt like I needed soothing.
I was right! One of the episodes we watched had Mr. Rogers going to a trolley museum and then a flying trolley arrived in the Land of Make Believe...it was so fun. Mr. Rogers Neighborhood is a children's show that you can watch as an adult and not want to blow your brains out, take note. At the end, he showed the kids how to make a trolley (out of cheese boxes...is cheese coming in a box something I should remember? I guess I was younger than James is now when these episodes were released, so that was a pretty long time ago.) So we made a trolley this afternoon and of course we attached a balloon to it so it could "fly."
Balloons have been a thing. I bought a couple of packages on Monday for James's birthday and have been slowly doling them out ever since...he only gets two a day and when they pop they pop and there are ALWAYS tears. I told him...balloons pop. That's what they do. It's not your fault, no one is mad, but once a balloon pops it is gone and does not return. After the first balloon loss of the day we listened to the chapter from Winne the Pooh about Eeyore's birthday because it features a popped balloon. I was able to grab that audiobook from the library. It helped...at least a little. Tomorrow is James's actual birthday and I don't know what to expect. At some point I need to construct a cake. He wants to eat pizza for dinner. And there will be balloons. And a surprise socially distanced guest. That's all I got.
Two things that are going on outside our house that are on my mind tonight: first, my dad fell down on his front steps yesterday. Right on his face. He didn't want to go to urgent care. I don't blame him. Both my sister and I talked to him on the phone It's hard to not be able to see him. Well, he made it to the doctor this morning and was diagnosed with a mild concussion and a bad scrape on his face from his glasses. Time and rest should cure him. So that's good news. But hard. We won't be able to see him for awhile, even with social distance, and it's James's birthday so that's tough. Of course his health comes first. And it's just so hard to be separated from him at this time in his life. And he's frustrated. He wants to get his hair cut, he wants to get his glasses fixed. All reasonable requests, all closed. Businesses that didn't seem essential a few weeks ago are starting to feel more essential as this drags on. I get it. Being hurt just isolates him even more. But I'm so grateful he's okay.
The other thing that's going on is I'm supposed to be in a wedding in about 4 weeks. I chatted with the bride a bit last night. I feel for her. I've been through having a wedding, it's stressful, and I can't imagine having a global pandemic throw it all off. She wants to keep her wedding date and just have it be small. I totally understand that and want to support her but I"m not willing to break social distance. If she wants me to stand 6 feet away and witness, I'm all in but I can't do more than that. I hope she understands. It is a tough situation and I feel just awful about it. I like supporting people and want to do right by her but I have to make myself set boundaries because I'm not super good at it. I have to protect my family. That's what social distance is for. And it's really hard because we don't know what 4 weeks from now will look like. Maybe a lot more things will be open. Maybe some of the restrictions will have been lessened. A bit. Maybe not. But it's not going to be normal. There aren't going to be huge group gatherings. Not for awhile. And that's going to take some getting used to for all of us.
Today's media consumption, besides Mr. Rogers...I'm still working on both my books, the poetry of the Blue Mountains in Australia and a YA novel about a baseball pitcher sidelined with injury. Enjoying both very much, both are good reads for right now for different reasons. I want to finish both of them by tomorrow so I can win unread book bingo on Instagram. Still listening to Anne of Green Gables on audio, that will go into next month. Also, I may have placed a big order for books at an indie bookstore today. Oh, well. TV was just Mr. Rogers and dabbled a little more with the Mary Tyler Moore Show. It's been fun to watch that but it's getting less fun as the seasons go on. You don't notice that with shows when you aren't binging.
I'm headed to a zoom girls night in just a few minutes so I will close with my thank yous. I'm grateful for Max's amazing monster pants, Mr. Rogers, the last of the bubble solution, good books, reading to James, reading to Max, indie bookstores, balloons, Winnie the Pooh, sunshine, showers. sandals, and health and safety for all.
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