Quarantine: Wed. 4/15
Much better day today. I think the trick is just imparting a little structure. (The trick might also be putting on jeans instead of leggings, which I did today.) In ordinary times, our structure-less weekend days are usually glorious. When every single day in a long long string of days is structure-less, the functionality breaks down. So this morning, after breakfast, I moved the kids to the basement right away for more peg doll creation, which they'd wanted to do yesterday but didn't get around to. The energy was just right today for a long, meticulous craft, and they made peg dolls for about two hours, till I had to drag them away for lunch.
After lunch, they had quiet time in their rooms--for reading or making collages--and both girls chose to read. I got some work done on essays. They were so immersed in their books that I didn't hear a peep for almost two hours, and even when I called to them, they didn't want to stop reading. That's a win.
They wanted to finish a couple of peg dolls after that, which they did, and then they went outside and played with all the peg dolls they'd made. They each had an old iPhone box they used as a car for their pegs. The pegs also floated in a plastic frying pan in one of our backyard mud puddles. It was an elaborate, immersive afternoon of playing. We also took Farrah on a walk around the block (the girls rode their bikes). I wore my fancy cheetah fur coat for the walk, because why the hell not?
For dinner, I made carmelized shallot pasta from the New York Times. It was fine. Not life-altering, which the phrase "carmelized shallots" suggests, but fine. Then the kids watched an episode of Liv & Maddie while drinking Shirley Temples out of plastic champagne flutes.
Tomorrow the girls want to make rag dolls, which means our metamorphosis into the Ingalls family may be approaching completion.
Andrew's been nosing around on Farrah's breeder's Instagram account, raising the possibility of bringing a breeding pup into our family so we can have the experience of (briefly) raising litters of newborn puppies in our home. Not sure if "compulsion to adopt a breeding dog" is a commonly accepted emotional stage of quarantine, but that's where he is right now. For the record, I was in this stage well before quarantine, so.
After lunch, they had quiet time in their rooms--for reading or making collages--and both girls chose to read. I got some work done on essays. They were so immersed in their books that I didn't hear a peep for almost two hours, and even when I called to them, they didn't want to stop reading. That's a win.
They wanted to finish a couple of peg dolls after that, which they did, and then they went outside and played with all the peg dolls they'd made. They each had an old iPhone box they used as a car for their pegs. The pegs also floated in a plastic frying pan in one of our backyard mud puddles. It was an elaborate, immersive afternoon of playing. We also took Farrah on a walk around the block (the girls rode their bikes). I wore my fancy cheetah fur coat for the walk, because why the hell not?
For dinner, I made carmelized shallot pasta from the New York Times. It was fine. Not life-altering, which the phrase "carmelized shallots" suggests, but fine. Then the kids watched an episode of Liv & Maddie while drinking Shirley Temples out of plastic champagne flutes.
Tomorrow the girls want to make rag dolls, which means our metamorphosis into the Ingalls family may be approaching completion.
Andrew's been nosing around on Farrah's breeder's Instagram account, raising the possibility of bringing a breeding pup into our family so we can have the experience of (briefly) raising litters of newborn puppies in our home. Not sure if "compulsion to adopt a breeding dog" is a commonly accepted emotional stage of quarantine, but that's where he is right now. For the record, I was in this stage well before quarantine, so.
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