On Saturday I went into Okemos grocery shopping. There are much fewer people out given the social distancing rules and Governor’s stay at home order. One person per household appears to be going out and the rest are staying home.
Quantity limits are still in place, folks still appear to be hoarding, and areas of shelves were completely bare (rice, dried beans, canned goods, dry pasta, TP, cleaning products).
Every few minutes the music in the store would stop and they would play a prerecorded CDC message/warning about the Coronavirus (“stay 6 feet away… wash your hands for 20 seconds…”).
In various places throughout the store there were large black X’s on the floor directing people where to stand so that people were not too close to one another.
I’m not gonna lie. It was a bit stressful. You began to feel a slight panic like you definitely should not be out and you should get home as quickly as possible.
The rest of our Saturday was quiet. We had thunderstorms on/off all day. We ordered dinner from a local Williamston restaurant (trying to do our part since restaurants may only do carryout). We watched a movie and played Monopoly. I even bought a 300 pc puzzle… and I generally had puzzles.
Today the kids made waffles for breakfast. We have normal weekend chores. I’m making sausage-lentil soup for dinner. It’s still raining. You can trick yourself into thinking it’s a typical Sunday but then you remember that it isn’t. The Governor is supposed to make the announcement next week whether kids will be returning to school or if school is simply done for the year. Dave and I are trying to make plans for what this would mean as childcare and summer camps would also be closed or limited. What a strange strange time.
Ajax said the highlight of his day was doing three consecutive loops around the neighborhoods in about 30 minutes. He said he’s going to try for four next and keep building from there. We say awesome goal buddy. Noomi’s currently in bed but I’m going to guess that her favorite part of the day was getting a letter from her friend, Cora, who just moved into our neighborhood. The neighborhood kids have been exchanging letters and putting them into each other’s mailboxes. Everyone has gotten a kick out of it.
The kids did their scheduled activities of journaling, math, typing, a little online learning, and reading. We squeezed in a few walks with Husker who is now passed out for the night.
I had to run up to the office for the rest of my supplies and now have a near full set up in our bedroom. We’re making this work from home thing work. We’re making this homeschooling thing work. Heck we’re trying to make it all work.
Oh the U.S. has now exceeded China in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, making it number one in the world, with over 85,000 cases. The state is shut down until April 13th, but I’d be surprised if the “shelter in place” order is lifted at that time. I’m hopeful, but the numbers don’t look good.
A bit of the disaster that is our house right now.
Our day today under lockdown started with Dave and I having coffee and checking the news and numbers (which is how we start each morning). The reality is that the number of confirmed cases is rising significantly, the death toll is increasing, and some metro-Detroit hospitals are nearing capacity. Medical professionals don’t have the materials they need and ventilators are desperately needed.
We’re trying to balance what information we share with the kids so that they understand why we are all home now, why they can’t play with their friends, but at the same time we don’t want to panic them.
For their journal time today I had the kids write about their feelings being home. Both kids reflected generally positive thoughts, they like being home overall. I hope in ten years from now they only remember our family dinners and game nights and goofiness.
I’ve loosened up quite a bit with our schedule. The schedule is really more to help keep our days organized, keep the kids from turning into video game zombies and killing each other, and allow Dave and I to still work.
Some highlights include our continued work on learning cursive. Both kids are progressing well. They’ve been doing a lot of reading and math practice. They both don’t mind math. Noomi is learning to count money and tell time. Ajax is reviewing fractions. Both kids also enjoy practicing typing.
During dinner tonight we played Munchkin and then after the kids did my Crossfit workout with me. Noomi was a machine and outran us all. Husker couldn’t figure out what we were doing but he loved being outside and running with us. In their free time Ajax has been enjoying MineCraft and reading. Noomi has been constructing a robot and forts throughout the house (she is the messy one of the family).
Sorry this post is so disorganized. I have more pictures but they aren’t uploading properly so they’ll have to wait.
Before I dive into our current situation I’d like to back up a bit. I stopped blogging after the holidays because life just got pretty darn busy around here. The kids were doing well in school, Dave was on the WSF Board and active, we had PTSA activities and events, Girl Scouts, school events, work, and I finally joined my local Crossfit gym. The topics of conversation revolved around normal family activities, dinners and playdates, and other local things. We were getting a bit warmer weather so we were outside a bit more and itching for spring.
Some winter highlights (Jan – Feb) included, the Daddy daughter dance opt out. Instead Noomi choose to go to Art Unlimited and ice cream. We bought Noomi a new bike. She picked out a blue mountain bike. Ajax was in his play (Peter Pan) and had a small role onstage in the pirate band. He did great! We did some cookie booths and delivered cookies across the state.
Throughout this period we’d hear news stories about a virus slamming Wuhan Province and spreading throughout China. The WHO began issuing warnings and the CDC was trying to get information about it. In early March the news and people began noticing that the virus, now known as the Coronavirus (or COVID 19) had spread to several other countries with devastating effects. The number of confirmed cases was rising worldwide and so were the deaths. Hospitals were at capacity and people were dying for lack of ventilators. I must admit I was willfully ignoring all the evidence.
On Thursday, March 12th, the news seemed to exploded and the Coronavirius was touching many of the states (apparently the first cases to hit the US were in January in Seattle, but I don’t remember hearing much about it or not being remotely concerned about it). People’s anxiety went from a zero that morning (not worried at all) and by Thursday night the country was at an eleven. Folks immediately began hoarding supplies and cleared stores of toilet paper. I got up on Friday, March 13th, and went to my 5 am workout. By the time I got home I had several emails and text messages – the Governor closed all schools from March 16 – April 3rd (then spring break from April 6 – 10). We were told to “social distance.” Then in the course of an hour, the kids went from having a full day of school to a half day. By the time I got to the office businesses were organizing their workforce to work remotely. Both Dave and my offices went remote almost immediately.
Over that first weekend we tried to wrap our head around the sudden changes. People and kids continued to interact. Our kids played with the neighbors. No one was really social distancing and many were continuing their normal activities. All the while the numbers and deaths continued to climb in the United States.
On Monday, March 16th, the Governor closed all bars, nie-in restaurants, gyms, etc. By March 18th, large auto manufacturers were closing down and unemployment rates began climbing. On March 21st, the Governor shut down more businesses to reduce large numbers of people in one place in close contact (salons included). On March 23rd, the Governor issued a “shelter in place order” (similar to many other states). The order is for at least the next three weeks. Individuals may only leave their home or place of residence under very limited circumstances. Non-essential businesses are ordered to close and all workers that can must be remote.
So that brings us to today, March 24th. Currently the US is ranked 3rd in the world for active COVID 19 cases with the death count rising. Hospitals in metro-Detroit are near capacity and Michigan has over 1,300 current cases.
We are into our second week of everyone being home. Dave and I are trying to work and home school/occupy the kids all at once. Husker loves having all his people home. And it is overall, incredibly stressful and a lot of unknowns and uncertainty. The kids miss school and their friends. Ajax is bummed he won’t get a birthday party with everyone. I’ve been the only one going to the store and shopping and tensions are high and shelves are cleared. Most items have limits and for some reason toilet paper is the thing folks are hoarding the most.
I’ll share more about our days and schedules later. For now I just wanted to document what’s been happening. We keep wandering around the house saying, I just can’t believe this. You can’t help checking stats and numbers and the news. The President is a complete moron and we made the mistake of checking our retirement accounts.
