On Sunday, March 1st, Katie had another Girl Scout cookie site sale at the local Fred Meyer's.
The girls did brisk business because Freddie's was SUPER BUSY.
The news about Covid-19 was making people a little bit jittery.
The Great Grocery Store Rush had begun.
Just like the day before, there were TONS of people who stopped to wipe down the handle of their carts. There were even some who were wearing gloves and masks.
When we were done with our sale, I took Katie inside the store to get her some "fancy clothes" (see definition of "fancy clothes" in February's post).
She picked out some jeans and some button down shirts and we headed home.
It turned out that this weekend was the last for Girl Scout cookies sales.
They discontinued them the next week for safety reasons.
As the rest of that Sunday afternoon progressed, Katie began to feel pretty crappy.
Runny nose, cough and no fever.....the same symptoms that Mikey and Huzbend had a week back.
Darn. All that sanitizing the house didn't do anything.
Except, I didn't get sick. Weird.
Huzbend and Mikey were STILL coughing from that cold they had in February.
That afternoon, another Covid-19 nursing home death was reported in Washington State.
Reports showed local Costco's with huge lines.
They were running out of toilet paper and sanitizing supplies.
On Monday, March 2nd, the local high school that was closed opened back up to students and staff after being deep cleaned. The test result for the teachers relative was negative.
All schools in our district were open that day, except one.
That one school had a teacher that had come down with flu-like symptoms. The school was closed out of precaution and for cleaning.
Katie stayed home from school that Monday because she was still feeling pretty yucky.
It was business as usual for everyone else.
That afternoon, it was announced that the next day, Tuesday, March 3rd, would be a non-student day in our district. The schools were going to use this day to start developing an online learning option in case schools had to close for a significant amount of time.
Having March 3rd off from school gave Katie a chance to sleep in and recover a bit more.
It gave the rest of us a chance to worry just a bit more about what the next few weeks were going to look like. We were pretty sure school was going to close for a long time pretty soon.
Wednesday, March 4th, both kids went back to school.
It was a normal day for everyone.
Our school district began a process to get every kid a laptop and WiFi hotspot so that they could work from home.
Huzbend received an email telling him that all Microsoft employees had to work from home starting ASAP.
Meanwhile, Mikey and his friends decided that they were going to start a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. All of them got together and checked their calendars and decided that Wednesdays from
5-7pm would work for all of them.
Mikey came home and asked me to reach out to the parents to get it set up.
I tell you, when these kids set their minds to something.......
All the kids (and their parents) were in and the first D and D session was set up for March 4th at our place.
Most of that first session was spent on character creation.
Katie helped out.
Soon, the pizza arrived - you can't have D and D without snacks and pizza! - and they were ready to adventure!
It was super fun to watch an adventure unfold in our kitchen, especially with our history with role playing adventures.
The kids decided that they would come back next week.
Who was I to argue?
That night, it was announced that school would be shut for the next two weeks due to virus concerns.
Remote learning would begin on Monday, March 9th.
Thursday, March 5th, Huzbend was home. The kids were home. Everyone was home.
I headed to the grocery store to pick up some stuff to cover us for the next couple of days.
Already, some of the shelves had been picked clean and limits had been put on some materials.
With Huzbend home working in the kitchen, the kids and I had to try to stay quiet.
We watched TV, played video games, and discussed what school was going to look like for the next two weeks.
As that Thursday progressed, Mikey seemed a bit off.
His previously "chunky/productive" cough that he'd had since recovering from his cold in February had turned into this hacky/barky cough.
He was laying lethargically on the couch with his cheeks flushed and his eyes watery.
I sat down next to him and asked him how he was doing.
He relayed that he felt like it was hard to breathe and that he had a headache.
I took his temperature. It was about 101.
His SpO2 (blood oxygen) level was okay.
W.T.A.F?
OF COURSE he would present with ALL the symptoms of the novel coronavirus.
I called the Nurse Line that was offered by our health insurance.
After a discussion about his symptoms and his past issues, she told me to bring him in to the Urgent Care Center.
Dammit.
I've been to the Urgent Care for this sorta shit too many times.
I know that I needed to pack like I was not coming home.
So, I took the time to do that and then we hopped in the car.
Upon arrival at the health care facility (it's not a hospital), I grabbed us some masks to wear.
We had to be checked for fever to enter the building. As soon as we did this, we were sent on to Urgent Care.
The Nurse Line had called ahead to let them know that he as coming and had respiratory symptoms.
They quickly got us checked in and Mikey had to sit in a special cordoned off area for people with "flu-like symptoms or respiratory issues".
They ushered us back to a room as soon as they could.
The respiratory specialist came in and then the doc came in.
The respiratory dude was wearing mask and gloves.
The doctor was wearing a face shield and gloves.
We were asked if he has recently traveled or if he had had contact with anyone with known exposure to the virus. The answer was no. So, no test for the virus was given.
After taking a listen to his chest and not hearing much going on, the Dr. recommended a chest x-ray just to be safe.
There were some worrisome spots on the x-ray, but nothing conclusive.
It was decided to treat it aggressively due to Mikey's past history. The Dr. proclaimed it pneumonia.
While waiting (there's a lot of waiting in Urgent Care), I overheard the staff in the hallway planning for the evening.
One doctor would see all patients that were presenting with coronavirus symptoms, while another would see general issue patients. This way they could conserve their protective equipment.
Before we left, he had to have an nebulizer treatment.
We were to start up albuterol puffs and his fluticasone steroid inhalant at home.
He was also started on antibiotics and an indigestible steroid.
We were sent home.
I parked him on the couch that night so that I could watch him sleep.
The next day was Friday, the 6th.
On this day, all teachers were supposed to touch base with their students in some way.
Mikey had his first Zoom meeting with his class.
We parked him in the basement on a fold out table with an old laptop.
We found out that Emerald City Comiccon, which was scheduled for March 12-15th, would be postponed to a later date.
That afternoon, one of Mikey's friends asked if they could have a sleepover.
I explained that he was sick with pneumonia and they brought over this card for him the next day while he was napping.
Huzbend and I went out to dinner with some friends that Saturday.
Social distancing (staying at least 6 feet away from others) was just starting to be talked about, but not implemented. Washing hands was more frequently talked about as the first line of defense against the virus.
It was good to get out and talk about how these quick coming changes were affecting our families and to laugh a bit.
Sunday was a lazy day.
Katie took some time to cuddle with her favorite member of our family.
Monday, March 9th.
Remote learning start day.
Huzbend was in the kitchen at his new workstation.
Mikey was stationed downstairs on his folding table desk.
Mikey's teacher provided this schedule for the week (Wednesday ended after 1:30):
9:00-9:45 Zoom Math Lesson/Interactive Work time meeting.
9:45-10:30 Writer’s Workshop - Independent work using the shared document titled New State Report Template. While you are using Google Docs, the teachers will be accessible to comment on your work.
10:30-1:00 Break - This would be a good time to do your specialist activities, take a break outside, eat lunch, and/or read independently.
1:00-1:30 Listen to the read aloud and do the daily response. This is how we will be taking attendance.
1:30-1:50 i-Ready Reading
1:50-2:30 Science
3:00-3:30 Optional Zoom Office Hours meeting
Katie was upstairs in her room.
The middle school had a schedule as well.
That Monday was the Dow's worst day since the 2008 recession.
I'm not sure if that first day of remote learning was overwhelming or something, but Katie crashed on the floor cuddling with Ralph as she was waiting for me to say goodnight to her.
She was OUT.
It was that time of year again.
Allergy season equals Ralph foot eating time.
The Cone of Shame made its first appearance of the year.
Allergy season equals Ralph foot eating time.
The Cone of Shame made its first appearance of the year.
There were still many after school activities happening - they hadn't been called to cancel yet - but we kept the kids home, just to be safe. They were pretty upset to miss some of them, especially the end of their Dungeons and Dragons session with the local board game shop.
Remote learning was going well that week.
Each kid seemed engaged in what they were required to do and attended all their Zoom meetings.
Things were going well.
On Wednesday, March 11th, the World Health Organization officially announced that the novel coronavirus was considered a pandemic.
Gatherings of more than 250 people were banned.
We decided that Mikey and his friends could still get together for Dungeons and Dragons at our house that week.
We disinfected everything before and after the kids were there.
Some of the kids wore costumes. They were totally into it.
On Thursday, March 12th, this happened.....
Disney closed all of its US parks.
Parks in other countries had already been closed.
Later, on March 12th, we learned that all schools in King and Snohomish counties would be closed until April 24th.
So much for only two weeks of no school.
We were in this for the long haul.
The kids and I had been trying to get outside at least once a day each day that week even though the weather wasn't the best.
Huzbend was riding his bike in the morning half way to work and back.
We took a walk on Friday, the 13th.
It was pretty brisk.
So brisk that Katie's ears turned bright red.
It was like they were glowing.
Friday afternoon, the governor announced that ALL schools in our state would be closed until April 24th. Our district announced that remote learning was going to be put on "pause" for the next week.
They needed to assess how remote learning was working for everyone and come up with a model that would be easily sustainable for the foreseeable future.
Besides no in-school learning taking place, this also meant all school activities were cancelled.
Katie and her Advanced Drama crew had been rehearsing "The Music Man" to perform at the end of March. Sadly, that meant the performance would not happen.
Katie was supposed to play Winthrop.
Rehearsing a musical on the Zoom meeting platform was impossible.
Maybe, just maybe, if schools opened back up in April, they would have enough time to continue rehearsals and perform for the end of the year.
As that week had progressed, we started thinking about how we could utilize space a bit better in our house. I mean, we had a whole downstairs area that we weren't using.
We decided to turn the basement into a game center/movie viewing area and to get Mikey a desk for his room.
We had to move some stuff around and get rid of some furniture in order for this to happen.
The storage bench went to a friend.
We dropped it off. It was good to hang out for a bit and chat.
The hardest thing to let go was the kiddie piano.
Many tears were shed saying goodbye to the piano.
Katie was able to pick out who received it. It went to a preschool.
Mikey had to do a deep clean and rearrange of his room.
This is a headdress he made in 4th grade that he had to stay goodbye to.
We placed a pick-up order at IKEA that Saturday, the 14th, for a desk, chair and entertainment stand.
Huzbend and Mikey went out - with masks and gloves - to pick up the furniture and then spent most of Saturday and Sunday building them.
Here is Mikey's new desk.
On Sunday, the 15th, it was announced that all recreation facilities would be closed (gyms, bars, restaurants). The kids swim lessons were cancelled for the foreseeable future.
All of us thought that a "Stay at Home" order would be coming soon.
I ventured out to the grocery store that Sunday afternoon buying for ourselves and an elderly neighbor.
What I saw scared me.
No wonder people were hoarding food.
When faced with the empty shelves, it was almost an overwhelming impulse to grab what I could and as much as I could for my family.
I tried to resist.
The meat shelves were totally bare.
Tortillas were still there but going fast.
Rice was just about gone.
And, this was the bread section.
I did manage to get some of the stuff I needed, but had to get creative with substitutes.
With our remote learning on "pause" it was time for full on "Mommy School."
The kids had been supplementing their online learning with Khan Academy.
I added IXL to their tool belts as another option.
Our schedule went something like this...
10am - 11:45ish - Academic-type work of some sort (math, ELA, science, social studies) OR work on stuff that is due for actual school
11:45ish - 1:30 or so - relax time, eat lunch, watch TV, play video games
1:30 - 2:30/3:00 - do something outside
3:00 - 4:30ish - "Forced Creativity Time"
My children named it that. They had to do something creative (legos, writing, drawing, baking, etc)
Sometime during this week, Huzbend went out to procure a giant television to put in our new basement game room/movie watching room.
That Tuesday, the 17th, was St. Patrick's Day.
We celebrated with Irish soda bread muffins and chocolate coins.
Katie added the green sprinkles to make them more holiday-ish.
As soon as the order to shut our schools for two weeks came down, I had gotten myself on Amazon and ordered some things to help keep the kids busy.
I picked up some jump ropes and a pogo stick.
Most of our outside time during that "pause" week was spent trying to up their skills in jump roping and pogo.
Katie had had some experience in elementary school.
I guess they tried pogo sticks in PE.
She wasn't great, but she could do some jumps.
Mikey, on the other hand, had never been on a pogo stick.
He was able to do about one jump and then would lose his balance.
It was a work in progress.....
Our neighbors must've had the same thought..."get something for the kids to do outside".
They set up a basketball hoop and sent over an email that we could use it if we liked.
So nice of them!
Social distancing was a thing by now.
So, on our walks we made sure to give others a wide berth.
We decided on Thursday, the 19th, that we were going to go for a hike.
Our target was Meadowdale Beach Park - a nice hike down to a beach where we would then have lunch.
As we arrived at the trail head, it was SUPER crowded. There was no parking in the lot and cars were parked for about a half a mile away from the lot on the side of the street.
I guess we weren't the only people that had decided to get out.
Knowing that there would be NO WAY social distancing could be a thing with that many people on the trail, we decided to head somewhere else.
We ended up at Marina Beach Park in Edmonds.
Our plan was to get to the beach and watch the ferries come in and out of port while eating lunch.
There were not that many people there when we arrived, so it was easy to keep our distance.
We noticed that the kids playgrounds were all shut down in Edmonds.
They weren't shuttered in our town yet.
We were happy to find that Marina Beach Park had an off-leash dog area!
Before lunch, we let Ralph run around with the other doggo's.
The dog park had access to its own beach.
Ralph made a friend.
He was having just a little bit of fun.
After this, we made him go through an agility course.
He did everything - through the tunnel, up the ramp, jumped over some stuff - except the slalom.
I bet if we had a treat, he would've.
After a short walk along the beachfront, we stopped on a bench to eat lunch.
Ralph made sure that we didn't leave any crumbs behind.
We noticed that the beach was becoming busier and decided to head home.
As we left, the parking lot was completely full.
So much for social distancing.
On the way home, Katie noticed that a seagull had pooped on the window of her side of the car.
We stopped to get a hands-free car wash.
Everyone was fascinated.
The car wash removed the poop, but the rest of the car was left marginally dirty.
That Friday, the 20th, the weather was really nice.
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The kids kept working on their pogo and jump roping skills.
That Friday, also brought with it, our giant television.
It was delivered and set up.
I promptly sanitized EVERYTHING.
Realizing that many people were not staying at home to stop the spread, the city and school district decided to officially close all playgrounds and school grounds in our city.
On Saturday, the 21st, Mikey and Huzbend got down to business and put our new TV through its paces.
Borderlands 3 was their choice of game.
Although, you can't tell from the picture, the TV is frickin' huge.
75 inches or something like that.
Looking for an excuse to make something super sweet and desserty, Katie decided to celebrate Mikey bouncing on the pogo stick 107 times.
They each got to blow out the candle.
On Sunday, March 22nd, all of our state campgrounds closed and grocery stores began to limit their hours so that deep cleaning and restocking could be done at night.
Let's talk a little about Ralph.
Ralph became an emotional support dog this month.
He was always ready for a cuddle or a petting session.
And, he was always less than two feet from me.
He had always been a clingy dog. It seemed that having his people home made him MORE so.
Here I am sitting on the floor in my room, while Huzbend worked downstairs and the kids were in their rooms at "school".
Ralph was always there to remind you that there were other things more important than worrying about your kids catching a potentially deadly virus, the news cycle, Facebook, PTA stuff.....
Other things, like him.
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The kids took full advantage of Ralph's willingness to do just about anything to please them.
Here he is being Super Dog.
"So embarrassing."
As we rolled into the next week, our Governor declared a "Stay Home/Stay Safe" order for our entire state on Monday, March 23rd. Everyone was to stay close to home, except those deemed "essential" workers, and were only to go out for doctor appointments and groceries.
Our district was still waiting for guidance from the national government and state government on what their remote learning was supposed to look like and so they took one more "pause" week.
With the "Stay Home/Stay Safe" order from the Governor ALL school buildings were officially closed. Staff and teachers had to pick up whatever they needed for learning to continue so they could use it at home.
It was another week of "Mommy School".
On Tuesday, March 24th, The Tokyo Summer Olympics were officially postponed until 2021.
On Wednesday, March 25th, all businesses in our state deemed non-essential were shuttered.
That day, they also closed all state and national parks.
I wonder why they did that?
Well, here is a picture from March 22nd of a viewpoint on a popular hike....
We also got this in the mail....
The PTA's in our district began to take seriously the fact that we would probably not be able to meet in person for the rest of the year. We would have to accomplish voting via remote meetings.
As part of our PTA Council, I worked with another Board member to create a draft of a electronic voting policy and drafted an amendment to our Standing Rules to allow for e-voting.
This amendment and policy became the template for other PTA's in our district to follow.
I was just happy to have something to do.....
The kids rolled with another "Mommy School" week.
On Thursday, the 26th, the United States overtook all other countries in the world for number of confirmed cases of coronavirus. New York had the highest number.
That same day, we had a telehealth appointment with Katie's GI doctor.
We hopped on a Zoom meeting to talk about the findings of her endoscopy/colonscopy in February.
Most everything looked great. The Crohn's was under control.
But, there was one problem.
The biopsy from her esophagus showed elevated inflammation levels.
The doctor was wondering if she had EOE - Eosinophilic esophagitis.
EOE is a chronic, allergic inflammatory disease of the esophagus. Yay.
The other explanation could be that she had chronic acid reflux. She had complained about reflux symptoms in the past
The only way to tell for sure what was causing the inflammation would be to treat her with a proton pump inhibitor (aka PPI - a medicine to reduce gastric reflux issues) and then rescope her in 2-3 months time (if that would even be possible given the constraints on elective surgeries due to coronavirus).
If the eosinophils (white blood cells that indicate inflammation) were still present in her esophagus in large numbers, we would know that it was not reflux but actually EOE.
Sigh.
Katie told me after the appointment that she always thought she had another chronic illness.
She's just that cool.
Double sigh.
She started the PPI medication the following week.
Huzbend purchased a VR game for him and Mikey to play.
Halflife: Alyx turned out to be WAY too intense for Mikey.
It gave him nightmares for a few nights.
To keep active, the boys began to practice judo on Saturday's in our basement.
They also started playing basketball outside.
I'm not sure that I mentioned that the weather had been absolutely BRILLIANT.
Sunny and warm.
It was really hard NOT to go outside to the beach, to hike, to go to a playground.....
Mikey consoled himself by playing with the hose in the backyard.
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I guess it wasn't THAT warm as he was wearing a jacket and long pants.
Even though the air was warmish, the hose water definitely was not.
He was freezing when he was done.
He was quite giggly about it too.
With a lack of anything else to do, Katie wanted to make some more desserty items.
She decided that each weekend we would make something different.
This time it was GF chocolate chip cookies.
Katie did the majority of the work.
Except for putting them in and taking them out of the oven.
She burnt herself once and had bad memories.
So, I did that part.
They got to try a cookie as soon as they came out of the oven.
They were the best GF scratch chocolate chip cookies we had ever made!
Monday, March 30th, began our school districts Remote Learning Version 2.0.
This new version was not nearly as robust as the first version.
It was pretty disappointing.
But, when you think about the teachers having to juggle their job with their home life (their kids are home too!), it made sense.
Still. Disappointing.
The elementary and secondary schedules were very much the same.
Actual lessons happened on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9-10:30.
The rest of the day was to be spent on assignments that were given.
Tuesday and Thursdays were office hour/extra help days.
Here was Katie's new schedule.
Here was Mikey's......
I still supplemented by insisting that they continue with "Mommy School" (mostly Khan Academy and IXL) on Tuesday and Thursdays.
On Tuesday, the 31st, the elementary school was supposed to have it's Festival of Cultures.
I, along with two other people, were heading up the event.
Obviously, it wasn't going to happen.
We took the event virtual on the elementary Facebook page.
We turned it into the Virtual Festival of Cultures Week.
Each day was a different topic with links for exploration as well as the opportunity to share in the comments.
Again, I was happy to have something to keep my busy.
But, it was sad that the kids wouldn't get to experience it in person.
And, this was our last year at the school. It was a bummer.
On Tuesday, the 31st, Katie decided that she wanted to have a tea party.
We brewed up some tea and put together some snacks.
Everyone had to get "dressed up" for the party.
I threw on some dressy thing that I've had in the closet.
Mikey finally had to wear his "fancy clothes" that I picked up for his concert that didn't happen in February.
Katie was able to wear her "fancy clothes" with an assist from Daddy who tied her tie.
Ralph was cordoned off inside so he couldn't steal our treats.
His intense glare finally convinced us to let him join us.
He did his best not to eat our food.
Katie befriended a panda and adopted him thanks to Google AR animals.
As we ended March, it began to be circulated that wearing face masks out in public would be a good way to protect yourself and others from the virus.
I dug around for old handkerchiefs and buffs to use as makeshift DIY masks.
Egads.
