Week 380: Thankful

 Even by our new Wisconsin standards, this was a pretty quiet Thanksgiving. With an order in effect precluding gatherings of people who live in different households, it was just the 4 of us here for the big day itself. I did cook a bunch of things and packed up a to-go bag for Nona and Opa, so we all ate the same things, albeit not at the same time nor in the same place. Other than that, we pretty much laid low--went to a couple of parks, watched movies, played games, read books, etc. Lemon (Lemon!!) seems to have picked up his father's taste for chess, so they played many games of  that over the weekend. Both kids also developed a renewed interest in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the theme song of which I can still sing from memory from when my brother loved them decades ago. 

On Thanksgiving day itself we did a Zoom toast with all of my far-flung cousins, aunts, and uncles, which was a treat. I haven't seen any of them in person in a couple of years, and it was great to have a little taste of our old family Thanksgivings back in Boston, when all of us would descend on the home of one of my aunts and uncles and pack it to the gills with people, food, conversation, and laughter. After all this time away from other people, it was good inspiration to plan that long-discussed family reunion, once these COVID times are behind us.

Now we're getting back in the swing of things with our little learning pod, which continues to feel like pretty much the best idea ever (even if indoor recesses do make my "office" a bit rowdier than the average workplace). I am impressed with how much the kids are learning, even in this unconventional format. Both kids have made so much progress on their reading and writing since school started. And Lime now has loose teeth. When did they get so grown up?

Now it feels like we enter a new period of waiting. Waiting to see what the Thanksgiving holiday has done in terms of increasing the spread of COVID all around us, waiting for Christmas, waiting for the adult vaccine to become available, waiting for the pediatric vaccine trials to get going. Waiting for 2021 and all that it might hold for us. Hang in there, everyone!

Week 379: Topple

 

The kids have reached the point in the pandemic where they have set their sights on YouTube stardom. So, I humbly present to you their efforts thus far. Other than their quest for fame and riches, it has been a fairly quiet week of pandemic life here, for which we are all grateful. I did my big pre-Thanksgiving shopping already, in a semi-successful attempt to beat the crowds. Of course, this year we aren't exactly having a big group, I'll make dinner for the four of us (and, let's face it, I'm the only one of the four who will actually eat everything that I prepare), plus a to-go order for Nona and Opa to enjoy at their apartment.

Although we're sad not to be spending Thanksgiving with more people, it is obviously the right thing to do, and we'll look forward to more holidays in the future where we can be with family and friends. In the mean time, we will continue to explore different crafts, science experiments, reading, writing, parks, and whatever else we can think of to stay entertained and occupied until this has passed. And, with the promising news on 3 vaccines, we can begin to hope that this will be in the past before too long. 

So, stay strong everyone, we are thinking of all of you. Come Zoom with us for now, and we will see you soon!

Week 378: Just part of life

 Today, when I encountered a pile of crumbs on the floor left by a certain chip-consuming 5-year-old, I asked whether it was really my job to clean them up. I was informed that cleaning up crumbs was "just part of life." Buck up, buttercup.

And buck up, indeed. With Thanksgiving around the corner, and the pandemic more out of control than ever, bucking up seems like just the thing. At least with the good news about the two vaccine trials this week, there is some prospect of things getting back to a semblance of normal sometime next year. Meanwhile, we all  out in our little pandemic bubble and wait.

I did finally manage to connect with the coordinator of the hyperpolarized xenon study that Lemon will be a part of. They are indeed continuing with the research at least for the moment. Lemon is scheduled for their next available imaging appointment, which isn't until late January. Honestly I am glad it is a couple of months away. I would not have brought him in to campus under the current circumstances, and we can just see what the lay of the land is like closer to the time. I am fully committed to participating in as much research as we possibly can, but even I have my limits. And taking my kid to the biggest hospital in the region for a non-essential visit in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic is just a bridge too far. And yeah, those liver labs that are not exactly essential but not exactly non-essential? Yeah we'll be holding off on those, too.

Other than that, Lemon's weight seems to have stabilized at around 63-64lb, which is about 2lb below where it was when we reduced the volume of formula. If that's really where we are, then I am happy with that and we will stick to the lower amount for now. I haven't really seen an uptick in his eating yet, but maybe that will come with time. As I have said to myself every day for the past 5 years. But I am eternally optimistic.

Home school continues to go along, although even with all the masking and social distancing there have been a few coughs and runny noses already. So far, they've just caused alarm and anxiety, but all the members of the pod who have gone for tests since the school year started have been negative. It does bring home in a real way how challenging this pandemic is to manage, though, when every possible symptom _could_ be a COVID symptom, and every test result takes 3 or 4 days to come back. 

I can't really comprehend that Thanksgiving is next week. We, of course, will not be going anywhere, nor will anyone be coming here. It will be a little grim, but let's think of it as a down payment on some amazing Thanksgivings to come, when we will be even more thankful to be with our friends and family again.

 

Week 377: Keep swinging

 Phew. Finally. And by that I mean, finally, a reprieve from the incessant barrage of political texts, emails, and phone calls that have been the soundtrack of the swing-state voter lifestyle these past weeks. Well, just kidding, I got one from the Ossoff campaign today, but at least the volume is way down. 

With the national news basically eclipsing everything else, it is hard to even remember where we left off. On the other hand, in these pandemic days, each week is more or less the same as the one that preceded it. The situation in Wisconsin continues to get worse instead of better, and we are just hunkering down and trying our best to stay safe. As I told a friend recently, we have reach the "grinding your own flour" phase of the pandemic, thanks to the nice grinder that Papa Bear got me for my birthday. I also made my own fermented hot sauce, as one does under these circumstances. 

The kids are continuing to cope with this strange year surprisingly well. Online school can still be a struggle, and the Zoom classes definitely wear on the attention span after a while. Still, I can see every day that the kids are learning, their literacy and math skills continue to grow. Maybe not at the pace that they would be growing in the classroom, but who can really say? This is the school year we have, there is no counterfactual. The one thing I can say with confidence is that they are happy and healthy, and that's pretty much the whole ballgame at a time like this.

We've continued with the lower amount for Lemon's tube feeds, and unsurprisingly he has lost a little weight. I am trying to remain calm and give it some more time. He had plenty of weight to lose, being in the 90th percentile for BMI when we began the experiment. So, even a few pounds lighter, he is still by no means light. I'm hoping he'll settle into a new groove, but we will continue to monitor it and if he dips too low, we can always go back up on the volume. It does feel a bit weird letting him lose weight going into a winter, but I'll give it til the end of the month and then reassess.

We are still supposed to go back to Children's hospital to have blood drawn at some point, but honestly the idea of going near the hospital right now sounds terrible, so I think we will continue to wait. We haven't received any calls about the new clinical study that Lemon consented to participate in, so I wonder if they decided it was just to high risk to proceed at the moment. Waiting is fine with me on that one as well. 

And that's kind of the way of it for now. Wait, bide time, stay home. We've enjoyed this last bit of warm weather, a quick reprieve before winter sets in for good. The sunset at 5pm does feel rather ominous, but we'll get through it somehow I'm sure. 

376: Don't boo, vote

 I know no one is reading anything tonight. Look, kid photos! How cute! Vote! Vote! Vote! See you on the other side!