It's time for my annual tradition - make a list of everything I did on the first Friday of the new year (that's not Jan. 1).
Cast of characters
DF = Das Fenster, my husband
Gus & Gibson = our twin offspring, age 5
Location: Pasadena, CA
Date: January 8, 2021
7:00a Gus & Gibson come into our room and crawl in bed. They ask if it's a school day (sí, es viernes). We all snuggle under the covers until they start fighting bc Gus wants to pretend his grandpa died before he was born and Gibson does not approve.
7:20a get up. Make coffee, unload dishwasher.
7:30a DF gets up. He works from home now due to the pandemic, and he still has Fridays off. He tells me about a dream he had in which I died…
7:40a make breakfast.
7:45a kids turn their Kindles off, after being reminded repeatedly. Eat breakfast.
7:55a sign on to school. Find out we have a substitute teacher today. Oh, this should be interesting.
8:05a the sub just told us she doesn't really know Spanish. (We're in a dual language kindergarten where 90% of instruction is in Spanish.) Gus says he doesn't need to go to school if it's in English. Gibson is laughing at her attempts at Spanish pronunciation
8:30a we made it to break time (descanso!) At least this sub knows how to use most of the remote learning technology. The last time we had a substitute, she really struggled with that aspect. During the break, the boys and DF play with race cars while I drink coffee and do a sudoku puzzle.
8:40a back to school. Math class actually goes fine. For reading, we listen to a cute book about a zombie who likes to eat vegetables.
9:25a long break. I wash my face and put in contacts. Gibson comes into the bathroom to ask for help with a Lego creation, then drops bricks under a shelf and I have to retrieve them from the dust. I get dressed in my daytime pajamas. We're on what feels like day 7 billion of staying home due to covid-19. LA county is experiencing rapid virus spread right now. Our family is not leaving the house for at least another 4 days. We're quarantining since we traveled out of state for the holidays.
9:45a kids are pretending something about Pokemon. I help Gibson assemble a giant egg with his stuffed turtle inside.
9:55a start their online homework. We read a book about animals that are orange.
10:05a Gus has lost his focus. Back to legos. Gibson plays the reading game a bit more then joins in the Legos. They eat a snack. I return to sudoku.
10:32a Gus realizes he didn't do much work during the break and starts freaking out.
10:35a school starts again. Time for phonics. It's a semi disaster at first since the teacher doesn't know Spanish. Then the students start helping her.
10:55a Gus melts down over writing words. I carry him to his room to take a break.
11:05a actual break time. I eat a snack while boys play/fight. I take full advantage of DF being off on Fridays!
11:15a last session of school. We watch a video about reptiles that is pretty cool. Then they draw a picture of a reptile. Gibson takes this opportunity to draw a tiny snake. Gus teaches me a new one, a lizard from Australia called the thorny devil. He says he learned about it from Wild Kratts. The day ends with PE (dance videos). I have to break up one freezing ice/fire eagle fight.
12:00p school is done. Kids fill their footie PJs with plastic balls and crack themselves up.
12:10p Gus is supposed to have a small group with the teacher's aide. I forcibly remove several toys from his PJs. The teacher arrives and he practices reading. He then refuses to write letters (anyone notice a theme here??) and the lesson ends in tears.
12:40p I point out a pile of ignored toys and propose getting rid of them, which makes the kids immediately start playing with them. Gus is rejecting all the lunch options I offer while also begging for candy.
12:47p I nearly get stabbed in the eye with a paper periscope. Leave the playroom to eat lunch.
1:10p I pick peanuts out of a container of mixed nuts - with skin for Gus, no skin for Gibson. I believe this is lunch. They get a piece of candy afterwards.
1:25p finally start doing school work.
2:10p done with school work. It was a struggle but we finished all assignments. Gibson complained a lot about how long our last name is (6 letters) because one assignment was to write your first and last name five times.
2:15p the guys turn on the Wii to play Lego Batman. I catch up on the news.
2:45p the news is too much. COVID, attempted coup, racism, general political upheaval… I sneak into the kitchen and eat some coconut ice cream while the kids are distracted by video games. Make a cup of tea. Then I check social media, but just a bit so I don't get sucked in. Play a game on my Kindle.
3:55p forced outside time. Come on people, we have a nice yard and it's 71 degrees.
Kids ride scooters and bikes in the alley. I pick some grapefruit. Gibson starts whining that his legs are tired after maybe 20 minutes. We're all becoming total couch potatoes.
Back inside, we make grapefruit juice. The boys are helping until they both stick their hands into the sugar container seconds after I tell them not to. They are then shocked, SHOCKED, that I say they are done helping and have to leave the kitchen.
5:00p I ponder what leftovers options we can rustle up for dinner. After getting the kids to eat something resembling a meal, we decide it's movie night.
5:40p pop some popcorn and watch Fantasia 2000 on Disney+. I enjoy a Rip City Lager from Deschutes Brewery, a Christmas present from my brother. We give the movie 4 thumbs up.
7:00p time to build a fort in the den. This has been happening every night for the last week.
7:10p they stopped at making a pile of cushions. Now they are dropping reusable ice packs down their footie PJs because they got too hot with all the jumping around.
7:20p oh good lord, they are filling their PJs with balls again. Is it bedtime yet????
7:30p story time. We're currently reading Little House on the Prairie. Gotta be honest, I'm editing a lot on the fly to skip the most egregiously racist parts. Not sure we'll continue the series after this (book #2). I loved them as a kid but I'm reading with new eyes now. Like, I didn't understand what it meant that the Ingalls family "settled in Indian country." Whoa, that's some hard core white supremacy there. "We don't consider these 'savages' to be real people, so if we feel like rolling our wagon on in and building a house in the middle of their territory, that should be fine…"
8:00p get the kids ready for bed.
8:30p DF tells the "Goldilocks" bedtime story. The kids always want a role in the story. Tonight, Gibson is a ninja garbage can. Gus is a baby bear, younger than Baby Bear, and Goldilocks is his mother.
Then it's my turn to sing songs. As usual, Gus requests "Rockabye baby". Gibson's new favorite is "What a Wonderful World."
8:45p official good night. I sit on the couch outside their door and listen to their conversation which, not surprisingly, revolves around poop, pee, and toilets. They quiet down after a few minutes.
9:00p read a chapter in the book Inspired by Rachel Held Evans. It's for a church small group meeting that we'll have on Zoom tomorrow.
9:30p played a few phone/Kindle games then posted this to my blog. I'll head to bed around 10:15pm.
Thanks for reading along!
