The partner went out for a cup of sugar.
Three hours ago.
May never see him again.
Girl twin has thrown a coup against her older brother and now rules the house under her tiny thumb with Barbapapa playing #AllTheTime and #AbsolutelyNoBroccoli MAMA.
Boy twin refuses to NOT splash in the tub no matter how much you threaten nor how many of those ‘consequences’ show up. He calls our bluff and turns the entire bathroom into a sauna.
The cat has entirely taken over the top floor of the house, demanding coffee beans and throwing her shit down the stairs, screaming that it’ll sell for millions. MILLIONS, I TELL YOU.
No, but seriously, these have been the longest two days OF MY LIFE.
Paris closed all parks in a bid to #FlattenTheCurve and now we don’t go to the park.
Instead, we walked ‘around’ the block.
Well.
That was our intention, but the reality is that two year olds do whatever they want THUS it took a FIFTY minutes to make it a third around the block and then we bent space and time (and picked up the little beasts and carried them) to get home in ten minutes.
Also there were MULTIPLE cats and boy twin must point out and watch every cat and also point it out and also point it out and also point it out and also point it out.
MULTIPLE. CATS.
I actually got a solid hour of work done this morning while P ran the academic hour and when I arrived for creative hour to make banana bread THERE WAS NO SUGAR.
You thought I was kidding about the sugar.
Also the kids lost their minds.
All three of them.
And me.
GONE.
So we ate chips on the floor of the kitchen and that was fine cause anything else was AWFUL and eventually it was nap and I promise not to go through the rest of today hour by hour.
It’s just a lot.
It’s all just so very much.
But also so many people are reaching out in comments or directly with support or their own experiences or recommendations or tips and tricks and I just want to say KEEP IT COMING.
But also take care of yourselves, yeah?
In the past twenty four hours COVID19 went from being something that’s happening to the world to something that SEVERAL of my friends and acquaintances have been exposed to and are exhibiting active symptoms.
A Toastmaster friend’s ten year old son was diagnosed while they were on vacation in Germany. Now they can’t leave their hotel and the whole family has to take their temperatures twice a day. Oh, and they were told not to touch their son. #NotHappening
An healthcare friend in America worked with a patient three days ago who later tested positive. #ButHeFeelsFine
A DevRel friend’s mom is exhibiting symptoms but isn’t allowed to go to the doctor until her symptoms are more extreme. #WhatTheFuck
In order to DEAL with the HORRIBLE, we’re investing in our backyard. This is something that was on The List ™ for this summer, but we were going to wait until I got a raise and the weather was nicer, but, well, parks are Off Limits Now, so we bought a … I don’t know the english word for it? That’s how long we’ve lived over here. I knew exactly what to google to make this purchase today (glijbaan met schommels), but the english word is completely eluding me – maybe ‘jungle gym’?
It’s got two swings and a slide and a little fort and a tiny table.
And it’s adorable.
I hope that while the world is falling apart and the four horsemen ride rampant, that we can make a little piece of utopia in the backyard for our kids.
This is how I’m taking care of myself.
It’s going to take a ton of work, but I’ll be pulling together a beautiful puzzle, creating a thing, and making life better for three little people.
Sure, I totally flipped a table this evening when I realized that I couldn’t even use the sugar that my partner ran to the grocery store because it’s still in decontamination in the garage.
Realized when I had already assembled all the other ingredients and melted the butter and mixed the dry ingredients.
I literally stormed out of the kitchen.
And caught myself.
Returned.
Apologized.
Cried.
Hugged.
Breathed deeply in.
Breathed deeply out.
And realized I could just experiment with brown sugar instead.
That’s where we are.
The littlest things are AWFUL because we can’t change the big things. And the outbursts and table flips are TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE but then take those deep clarifying breaths and make peace with your partners, your roommates, yourself.
Cause, damn, we’ve got a LOT of time ahead of ourselves.
With ourselves.
Alone.