2021 :: week 6

 

January 31

We celebrated Grandmamere's 89th birthday by eating Klondike bars in her honor for dessert.

February 1

Monday marked the first day of Lauren and Elliott returning to school, so it was a little disorienting how quiet the house was while I worked on laundry. I feel a lot of satisfaction when I get our laundry washed and sorted. The big kids put their own clothes away while I help Elliott with his. I put away Miles' clothes as well. 

February 2

Post dinner dance parties have become the new normal in our house. Anthony puts on one of his Spotify playlists and we dance. The kids were surprised that dad knew the macarena. Anthony and I got tested for Covid and once again we tested negative. 

February 3

Wednesday was a great day!  The weather was beautiful, sunny and unseasonably warm. I hired the kids to pick up the many sticks that had fallen from our trees over the past few weeks. With everyone working together we were able to gather up four bags of sticks and twigs in less than 15 minutes. I paid each of the kids $1 and a pack of fruit snacks. Elliott wasn't interested in helping until he saw everyone get paid. 

February 4

I have a hard time sensing how old Miles is. Obviously I know his age (23 months). But he is the youngest which makes him seem younger than the older kids did when they were his age. When Will was 2 I felt like he was a man. He was talking in full sentences and newborn baby Lauren was the baby. The fact that he talks like a 1 year old also makes it difficult. But he does several things that make him seem older. He has a great attention span for books. When he plays with his phone he "talks" in it with gibberish that has the intonations of a conversation. We are in the initial stages of working with infant toddler services to help him with his speech. The benchmark number of words for an 18 month old to use is 10, for 24 months it is 50. He uses less than five words regularly--ma (mom), da (dad), hat, ba (ball) and tee (teeth).

February 5

We are exchanging Valentines with our John cousins this year and Lauren in crafting conversation heart pillows out of felt for each one. She has been working on these while I read the Vanderbeekers of 141st Street to her before bed each night. 

February 6

Saturday afternoon we made our first family outing in over a month to Will's basketball game. The nice part about our kids having had Covid is that we are less worried about them getting sick. We have also been told that they are not considered contagious for the next 90 days. Will played great at his game, playing point guard for a few rotations and scoring a few layups.