We had a quieter-than-usual Thanksgiving this year, in an attempt to follow the local recommendations for social distancing. I didn't feel like cooking a huge Thanksgiving feast if it was only going to be the four of us, especially since Sam and Lucy don't like traditional Thanksgiving food that much. So we decided to order Din Tai Fung, which is a rare treat for us that we eat only once or twice per year. Everyone was happy and excited with the choice. And, as a result, we were able to go for an outing to Seward Park in the middle of the day, since we didn't have to stay home and prep food.
Lucy wasn't excited about walking around the park, but she was interested in a bike ride. So she rode her bike while I ran alongside her, and the boys and Violet had a leisurely walk at their own pace. I am grateful for this girl, since she motivates me to run faster and longer than I normally would if I were on my own. She would say, "Ready? Runnnnnn!" and then pedal away to get me started. And she even decided that we would go at a "speedy speed" race up a hill, so I definitely got a good workout before our feast with this little personal trainer!
As we were driving home from the park, we got a notification that our food was being delivered about ten minutes early. We rushed home and found the food waiting on our porch - we missed the driver by just one or two minutes. I quickly showered after my workout and everything was still warm when we ate. We had boba smoothies, soup dumplings, chicken dumplings, rice paddies salad, tempered green beans and pork buns. It was delicious!
Lucy is laughing in this picture because her chopstick is stuck in the middle of the bun. She was spearing it in an attempt to pick it up and eat it.
The chocolate dumplings were delicious and most of us said that eating these dumplings were our favorite thing of Thanksgiving. The molten chocolate is so delicious.
After eating our good, we went to RB for a socially-distanced, bring-your-own-dessert gathering with Bop, Gram, Susie and Dave. It was quiet and different, but I'm glad that we got to see some family on this holiday and express our gratitude to each other for all that we have and enjoy.
We didn't get a chance for regular school pictures this year, since schools have been completely online so far. I wanted to make sure that we could send updated pictures in Grandma Judy's birthday card and have new pictures for our 2020 Christmas ornaments, though, so last weekend Jeremy took some pictures with his camera. He did a good job photoshopping them to make sure the lighting was just right. Even Violet got a "school" picture taken, which is well deserved since she attends first grade and seventh grade Zoom classes on a semi-regular basis.
Both Jeremy and I were shocked looking at Sam's picture and realizing how old he looks now. I think he has grown at least eight inches this year; he now wears size 16-18 in clothes. He looks so grown up in his picture! Lucy confided in me that she thinks she looks "like she's eight" with her missing teeth, so she is feeling grown up herself. Her top two teeth have been missing for almost six months, but we are just starting to see one coming through her gums. We'll see if she gets to legitimately sing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" this year.
We hardly have any holiday events to do this year, due to the pandemic. However, the zoo is still open for outdoor events and it is hosting a "Zoo Lanterns" attraction this holiday season. I was a little apprehensive about going, but it sounded like all the right precautions were in place and I appreciated that masks were required for entry. We chose to go on a day that was slightly rainy, too, which helped to limit the crowd size. It was so nice to be on a family outing and to feel like we were doing something special! Here are some of my favorite pictures:
We liked this frog because his eyelids were both blinking, but at ever-so-slightly different times and speeds
When I was a sophomore in college, some friends took me and my roommates out to go caving in Nutty Putty Cave in Utah Valley. There is a specific area of this cave that is nicknamed the "Worm Hole," which is so tight that one person can barely fit in the hole and you have to crawl through on your belly. This also means you can't turn your body around go backwards at any point - you have to commit to going through the tunnel in one direction. While I explored the other caverns of the cave with my friends, I opted to sit out and not do the Worm Hole. I knew I would feel claustrophobic and didn't want to feel like I might get stuck.
Anyhow, recently I've had a recurring dream in which I'm tunneling through the Worm Hole. I can't go backwards, but I have to keep going forwards if I ever want to get out. It's a stressful dream. Last time I dreamt about it, I had a hard time falling back asleep. (And, in the past few weeks with the stress of the election and work, I haven't always slept that well.)
I think that my brain is processing Covid in the context of this Worm Hole, especially as the weather gets colder and it is apparent that we'll be spending even more time stuck indoors. As is the case with the narrow tunnel in the cave, I can't go back and turn around. I can't reset. I just have to keep crawling forward, even if the context is suffocating and it's difficult to see when the experience will end. And, while some days are better than others, sometimes it really does feel like I'm crawling through the day.
Lucy's first grade class has been working on writing non-fiction. They get to choose their non-fiction subjects. She's already written a few about flowers and written a page or two about holidays. Lately she's been working on a book about tap dancing. Since she has been doing all of this through online school this year, she's been taking the liberty of making videos on Seesaw to send to her teacher. In fact, she's made so many videos that I told her to stop sending so many to her teacher, to respect Ms. N's time. Sometimes she'll make little audio comments along with the video post that say, "This is Version Two. If you don't remember Version One, then go back and watch the previous video." Ha ha! Hopefully Ms. N is amused by this submissions and not annoyed.
Here is one such video:
And here is the text of her book:
I don't know if she'll keep up with her tap dancing lessons, but I'm glad that she enjoys them and wants to write about them. She will always be my little Shirley Temple.
For the first time possibly in our entire marriage, J and I went on a run (well, jog) in the neighborhood together yesterday. It made me happy and I liked getting to just chat with him. We saw all of these birds flying and swimming by the lake, and I snapped this picture to show to the kids, but now I like looking at it and just thinking about this happy moment that J and I had together.
When I was a teenager, my grandparents moved to Utah and they would have our families over for a Christmas chili party each year. Grandma told me once that they chose to serve chili because it would be easy to feed a large group of people. Grandpa would make the chili and Grandma would make plates of Christmas cookies to send home with each family. The cookies that I remember the most are the Peanut Butter Blossoms (with Hershey kisses) and M&M cookies with green and red candies.
I remember Grandma expressing how she wanted to find a way to celebrate with the families in the area, but they were also mindful that Christmas traditions had already been established before she and Grandpa moved to Utah, so this was an event that they hoped wouldn't "step on anyone's toes." But it wasn't difficult to incorporate this into our Christmas traditions at all: now I remember it being a memorable part of the Christmas holiday. The white elephant gift exchange that we held at the party was always memorable, too. There was one year that a Burl Ives CD was a hot ticket item that kept bouncing between the cousins.
I got a copy of my Grandpa's chili recipe from my aunt this week, and it is even written in Grandpa's own handwriting! Even if we don't have a Christmas chili party, I hope that this can become a fall tradition for my own family. We are having it over Halloween weekend this year, and it seems appropriate to eat it in October as a way to remember Grandpa's birthday month.
The kids are watching “Lord of the Rings” and in one scene the camera repeatedly cuts between close-up views of the characters’ faces as they conversed. Lucy said, “This is just like a Zoom where it goes from person to person!” I guess that's the kind of reaction you have when you are doing online school and use Zoom for a few hours a day!
One of the cutest things about Lucy's online school during this pandemic is that she comes down the stairs at 10:00 every day for her ten-minute break during Zoom. She's anxious to quickly get her snack and chat with her friends via Zoom before the break ends, so she quickly tip toes down the stairs and does this little tip-toe run to the pantry, gets her snack and whispers a decline to my suggestion for a drink of water ("No, I'm okay") and tip-toe runs back upstairs. I'm not sure why she tip toes, but I think it is supposed to encapsulate her urgency and maybe also her independence as she gets her snack?
J pointed out that she sometimes holds up her Z-Bar as she tip toes away, saying, "I'm gonna eat this..." So maybe she also tip toes so that she thinks she'll escape notice and get away with her sweet snack choice? I don't always let her have those chocolate and iced-oatmeal bars as a regular snack, but I have been pretty lax about it since school started. Nonetheless, she keeps tip toeing, and it is really charming.
Today didn't go as I thought it would, largely due to the strong winds that we experienced today. Not long after the kids started their Zoom sessions, the power went out. They had enough battery life on their devices to keep their computers on, but we had to turn my phone into a hot spot so that they could get back online. We set it up in the hall, so they could both get reception from their different bedrooms. I needed to work too, so I huddled on the floor in the hall to try and grade midterm exams. It was a silly and uncomfortable way to perform an already tedious task.
I didn't get too much work done in the early afternoon, either, since I was helping Lucy with her schoolwork. I planned to get more work done while Lucy was on her last Zoom call of the day (with the Hazelwood "specialists": the P.E instructors, music instructor, and librarian). But not long after her call started, Sam came running inside to tell me that a portion of our maple tree had blown down in the wind.
I've really loved this maple tree over the past few years; it grew really quickly in the years after we bought our house and has become a nice source of shade. It looks like part of the trunk has rotted, though, so I'm not sure if we will be able to keep it. We are lucky that the tree didn't fall down a few more inches to the south, or it would have hit our cars in the driveway.
I'm sad that we have a big gash in our trunk and a big hole in the body of the tree boughs
The kids were really excited about cleaning up this project - this fallen tree is one of the most exciting things to happen during a pandemic, when you're staying at home all the time and all the days seem the same! They both wanted to help so I had to teach them a few tips about tool safety.
As we cleaned up the branches, I gathered a few of the leaves from the branches that had started to change color. I'm sad that most of the fallen leaves didn't get a chance to brilliantly ignite with autumn color one last time. And I'm sad that that portion of the tree won't have as much color anymore. Hopefully we can keep the tree - I'm not sure since it looks like there is some rot. But if we do get to keep it, I hope the tree boughs will fill in again so we can enjoy a rich palette of color in the years to come.
And even though this day didn't go as planned, a lot of good things happened. I'm glad that it wasn't raining when the tree fell down, and I'm grateful that the cars weren't damaged. We also had a really fun end to the day, where the kids made up this contest to make the weirdest face and the weirdest dance. We all participated in the contest, including me and J. It was nice to send the kids to bed on such a high note, after we all had a few belly-laugh-until-you-cry episodes.
Tonight at dinner we began to compile a list of all of our favorite things that have happened as a result of the pandemic. These are the things we said thus far, and I'll add more to this list as they arise. I hope they an help us to keep a positive outlook about this pandemic, even as it wears on and things also seem hard:
Me:
Not having to commute; getting to spend more time in the morning sleeping and exercising
Not having to make school lunches for kids
Getting the kids to learn how to ride bikes and going on family bike rides
Getting to go on daytime hikes during the summertime, since J was home with the kids and I could leave
More time together as a family
More time to work in the garden
Dad is home right after work and can cook dinner instead of me
J:
Getting to have more game time as a family
Getting to take breaks in the work day and be with his family or play piano
Not having to be stuck in traffic for his commute
Likes getting to make dinners (so he doesn't have to eat mine - although he was too nice to say this part out loud)
S:
Getting to stay home all the time and never leave (he said this a little sarcastically, but he also kind of means it)
I've been listening to an audiobook of Northanger Abbey (read by Juliet Stevenson) lately. I haven't had much time to listen, apart from when I'm watering the flowers. But I hope that I'll get to listen more frequently, once I'm able to start running outside again. (There have been terrible wildfires in on the West Coast lately, and Seattle is covered in a thick blanket of smoke. The air quality fluctuates between the Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, and Hazardous levels. We haven't really gone outside for several days, except to water flowers or get groceries. And it looks like the smoke will last for at least four more days. It's just one more crazy thing to add to the stress and craziness of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year has been unbelievable in terms of hardships and natural disasters.)
Anyhow, the audiobook is quite fun. Stevenson reads the text a little bit faster than I would have liked, but her inflections and delivery capture the silliness of Mrs. Allen and the wittiness of Mr. Tilney. I was so amused by this passage, that I listened to it several times. Mr. Tilney has been dancing with Catherine Morland at a ball, and he had this teasing exchange with her:
“I see what you think of me,” said he gravely — “I shall make but a poor figure in your journal tomorrow.”
“My journal!”
“Yes, I know exactly what you will say: Friday, went to the Lower Rooms; wore my sprigged muslin robe with blue trimmings — plain black shoes — appeared to much advantage; but was strangely harassed by a queer, half–witted man, who would make me dance with him, and distressed me by his nonsense.”
“Indeed I shall say no such thing.”
“Shall I tell you what you ought to say?”
“If you please.”
“I danced with a very agreeable young man, introduced by Mr. King; had a great deal of conversation with him — seems a most extraordinary genius — hope I may know more of him. That, madam, is what I wish you to say.”
“But, perhaps, I keep no journal.”
“Perhaps you are not sitting in this room, and I am not sitting by you. These are points in which a doubt is equally possible. Not keep a journal! How are your absent cousins to understand the tenour of your life in Bath without one? How are the civilities and compliments of every day to be related as they ought to be, unless noted down every evening in a journal? How are your various dresses to be remembered, and the particular state of your complexion, and curl of your hair to be described in all their diversities, without having constant recourse to a journal? My dear madam, I am not so ignorant of young ladies’ ways as you wish to believe me; it is this delightful habit of journaling which largely contributes to form the easy style of writing for which ladies are so generally celebrated. Everybody allows that the talent of writing agreeable letters is peculiarly female. Nature may have done something, but I am sure it must be essentially assisted by the practice of keeping a journal" (Northanger Abbey, Chapter 3)
As someone who likes to write in a journal (and blog!), I was amused to think about trivialities of journal writing. I'm sure many of the things that I write down are trivial, and really only important to me. Sometimes I don't even know why I write things down, other than that I want to think about them further in that particular moment as I write. I don't anticipate "constant recourse to a journal" and re-reading my entries at some point, although I do go back to read previous entries occasionally. But I don't really think about chronicling things for personal future amusement and recollection. (At least not in my personal journal. I do put things in my art history blog to have as for future reference.) And I'm not sure if I want others to read my journal in the future. Maybe? Or maybe only some entries that my kids would find meaningful? I'm not sure how much to share or what is worth sharing.
The exchange in the book continues on to think about females and writing, with Mr. Tilney's observation that both men and women can excel in writing, singing, and drawing. He says, "In every power of which taste is the foundation, excellence is pretty fairly divided between the sexes." It seems clear to me that Jane Austen is expressing her own opinion here, and not just Mr. Tilney's!
I was cleaning out some old folders in my email account today, and I came across this short note that I recorded from five years ago (2015), back when Sam and his best friend Lewis P. were only seven years old. I have a vague memory of typing these overheard bits really quickly, during some afternoon when Lewis was over at our house for a playdate.
Any adult who has interacted with Lewis knows that he's a rare gem. He likes to speak in a matter-of-fact way and likes to use vocabulary that is educated and precise. I want to make sure that these quotes are saved for us (and Sam) to remember. I like that he associates jedis with ragged clothes:
Lewis [while pretending]: But I don't look like The Chosen One. How can this be, when I have raggy clothes?
Lewis [pretending to be a second person who is responding]: Well, that's what jedis wear...sometimes.
Lewis [while praying over a meal]: "We hope everyone lives a long life. And we hope that you, God and Jesus, live long lives too."
It has been about almost six months since we started to quarantine, in efforts to avoid the coronavirus and prevent its spread. It has been interesting to observe how my reaction to the virus is very different from many of the other people I know. I know I'm a fastidious person by nature, but I didn't realize how fastidious I would seem in relation to others. It's hard to feel so helpless in this pandemic when I see rising numbers, especially when I am trying my hardest at the same time to do as much as I can.
I feel a keen sense of social responsibility in this pandemic. I also pride myself on being a consistent person, and sticking with something even when it is hard. I'm trying to just focus on this social responsibility and consistency from my individual perspective, and not feel disappointed or judgmental when I encounter others who do not act the same way that I do. But I have to admit that I do feel worn down and listless without the support of like-minded people. Today, when I made arrangements to drop something off at a person's house, they took the initiative to forewarn me that they would not be wearing a mask when they came to the door. That text message made me feel confused and deflated. Do they not believe in the virus? Maybe their personal comfort is more important to them than my health and well-being? It's hard to know how to interpret that warning, and I'm trying to just let it go and focus on what I can do.
While I am focusing on trying not to judge individual people, I do think that I can make an assessment on the American psyche from a historical standpoint. I agree with Martha L. Lincoln, a medical anthropologist and historian, who said that "national hubris and belief in American exceptionalism have served us badly" in this pandemic, and I agree. Ever since the colonial period, (white) American settlers promoted the ideology that America was different and special. And, assuredly, it was special to those who found refuge from persecution or a chance to start a new life. But, at the same time, it's important to recognize how this mindset led to a constructed ideology about America, which led to things like the Second Great Awakening and the belief in Manifest Destiny in the 19th century. As America grew in power and economic strength over the centuries, the hubris of our nation also rose too. And I think that has gotten us into trouble. Americans aren't known for their humility or malleability, which is a shame.
I would like a "quick fix" to the virus just as much as anyone else. Instant gratification is part of today's cultural expectation, and a vaccine for the virus would surely make things easy. But if I need to run a marathon, then I can and will. I can stay home and do my part. It makes me more uncomfortable to assume that I am an exception from other people.
We just got back from a very fun family camping trip up to North Cascades National Park. Our kids love camping, but they seemed exceptionally excited for this trip - I guess because we don't normally go anywhere during this coronavirus quarantine.
We planned this trip only about a week in advance, so we ended up getting the only site that was available in our time frame. But we loved it! We stayed at Newhalem Creek Campground, at site #129 off of Loop A. It was a walk-in site, but we loved it because we got away from the cars and most of the people. We felt pretty isolated, which was nice. J and I both said that we might want to keep staying at walk-in sites in the future, for that reason. When we go back, we think we'd also like to try site #121 off of Loop A too, because that one is right next to the Skagit River (and #124 seemed like a decent option by the river too). I think we might like this campsite better than the Colonial Creek campgrounds, because there aren't as many people.
There was a bird that must live in the trees near our campsite, because it kept singing for most of the mornings and evenings that we were there. We never could see it, but its song was very long and distinctive with a lot of trills, staccato notes, and ascending/descending scales. We kept trying to figure out what it was without success, and I finally downloaded an app on my phone to help with identification. It is a Pacific Wren, and its call is so pretty! You can listen to it here.
Violet found a cedar throne. Lucy also commandeered the cedar pile and would use the rotting wood pile to hold her stick staffs upright
We got to go on several hikes, and some of them were right in our campground area. On our first day we went to the Rock Shelter trail to see an ancient native shelter. This trail is also within walking distance of the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail, and the signs were informative and interesting (although some were outdated). We liked seeing the power station, too. Here are some of the things we learned:
How to identify Oregon Grape, with its serrated leaves and waxy blue berries
Hemlock trees have droopy tops, their needles are irregularly spaced, and the pine cones are on the ends of the branches
Vine maples have smaller leaves and are more shrub-like than the big leaf maple trees. The vine maples provide a smaller tree canopy (maybe 20-30 feet high) over the big leaf maples that help to form a higher canopy for the forest
The heartwood of a cedar tree can rot, but the tree can stay alive because the sapwood core around the heartwood is resistant to rot (due to the acid in the sap). The phloem is one of the other rings around the sapwood. This diagram is similar to the one that we saw on the trail.
The Trail of the Cedars goes along the Skagit River and is right by a bridge that leads into Newhalem
Trail of the Cedars Hike
We also noticed these white, almost translucent-looking plants growing around our campsite. I actually had just seen them the day before when I took the kids on a hike up the Whittaker trail in our Issaquah (see picture below). The kids and I commented about how the plants looked like "ghost flowers," and it turns out that the plants are known as "ghost plants" (also called "corpse plants" or "Indian pipe"). Now that we have spotted them, I wonder if we will see them everywhere in the PNW. I learned that these plants do not need sunlight to grow (weird!), which makes them even more creepy.
We also visited Diablo Lake during our short trip. We took the Diablo Lake Trail only about two miles up, to an overlook of the lake, and then headed back down. But the hike was worth it, and I loved how the terrain was varied across different types of forests and rocks. trail. We took the trail only up about two mil
Diablo Lake overlook from the highway after our hike
Diablo Lake overlook from the highway after our hike
J took several fantastic photos of our trip too, which have been uploaded here.
On our final morning we packed up our campsite and then visited Ladder Creek Falls before heading home. It was neat to walk around one more power station too, and the kids were interested in hearing the electricity buzz from the wires. There were signs mentioning that a light show was held at the falls, but I couldn't figure out if that was still happening (some things in the park were closed due to the coronavirus). It would be fun to return here when the light shows is on in the evening!
When I was a kid, I loved riding my bike. For me, bike rides were a way to experience freedom and adventure. I could be by myself, go explore, and feel the freedom of independence. I especially loved going along the gravel trail that was in my neighborhood and seeing the Canadian geese at the pond. I would even take the trail all the way past my elementary school, and sometimes meet up with friends.
So, as an adult, it was hard for me to accept that Sam didn't want to ride a bike because I felt like he was missing out on those experiences. Ever since he was about five, he has stubbornly refused to ride one. For several years I came to terms with it, and accepted that his childhood would not be the same as my own. And for the past two years, I have been content with letting Sam ride his scooter alongside Lucy's bike.
But this summer, it was time for Lucy to get her training wheels off. If she was going to learn, then I thought this was a good time for Sam to learn too. Plus, with quarantine and the restrictions due to Covid, I felt like I wanted to put the pressure on Sam so that we could have another way to exercise as a family outside (especially since the Y is practically closed, and we aren't ready to go there anyway due to the rising cases). He kept on hesitating and deflecting my pleas, but we finally got him to agree by bribing him. We promised that we would give him the Mandalorian LEGO set that comes out this fall (for which he has been saving all summer), if he would buckle down and learn how to do it. It didn't take him long to agree to this arrangement. And so he learned to ride a bike, at twelve years old, through coercion and manipulation. But it worked!
With Lucy's training wheels off as well, both kids took time to practice riding in the long drive way across from our house. It basically only took Sam about two days to learn how to ride his bike. He got confident really quickly, and even exclaimed, "Why didn't I learn how to do this seven years ago?" In fact, Lucy noticed how quickly Sam picked it up and muttered to herself, "Why is he faster than me? I've been practicing longer than him..." And this is true, if you count the two years she has been on training wheels.
Regardless, they have both picked up well on bike riding. Lucy can get herself going on her own, and so far we haven't had a major fall yet. We have gone on several rides together, and this is now one of their favorite ways to earn "active minutes" (which then translate into every-other-day screen time). And Sam has agreed with me that bike riding does give a sense of freedom, which he likes. As a parent, I feel like I've finally succeeded in teaching him the joys of bike riding. And I hope he will also remember this experience of facing a fear, overcoming the challenge, realizing that the challenge wasn't that hard in the first place, and developing a love for something that he thought was a fear.
First time practicing on the Cedar River trail by our house. We've been back twice and also explored the other side of the trail by the Community Center and Carco Theater.
Our first bike ride with all four of us was this evening! We went on the east end of the Cedar River trail in Maple Valley. I thought this day would never come!
Lucy had a wonderful sixth birthday. We originally planned to have her friend Abby H come over for an outside playdate (the first playdate since quarantine began!), but then Carrie (her mom) had to be tested for Covid-19 and the H family had to isolate while waiting for Carrie's results. So, we spent the day at home. Luckily, she got lots of presents from her family and extended family, so she wasn't at a loss for things to do. It was a marathon day for me, but I worked hard to say "yes" to everything she asked. She and I flitted from toy to craft to bubbles to toys all day long. The house was a wreck by the end of the day and I was really exhausted, but she had a fabulous birthday. (And Sam said that he had a great day too, because for the most part Lucy was occupied with me and he was able to have alone time in his room! Ha!)
During quarantine Lucy has rediscovered her love for Little People princess figurines. She got her pink Little People castle years ago, but last year I started to store it in her closet because it wasn't getting played with. However, over the past few months she has become really fixated on her princess castle and figurines, and she even was pretending that the pink castle was Elsa's ice castle. It seemed right to get her the Elsa castle for a birthday gift. She didn't even know such a thing existed!
Instead of a Moana cake (since Abby couldn't come over), Lucy wanted to have pancakes with a Moana topper. She specifically wanted to eat blue whipped cream so that it would look like Moana was sailing on water.
Here the old princesses are meeting the new Frozen characters.
Sam was kind and even helped play with Lucy, so she could enjoy her new Frozen castle. Elsa's castle is being defended by Star Wars ships and figurines
Lucy had her birthday playdate with abby all planned out to be a Moana-themed birthday party. Since Abby wasn't able to make it, we still pulled out Lucy's Moana dress and she got to wear the Heart of Tafiti necklace that she planned to wear with Abby.
A fairy house from the F family!
A giant craft kit from C and S
A giant bubble wand from E and T
Picnic dinner from Din Tai Fung at Seahurst Park. Lucy had wanted to swim, but it was too chilly.
Chocolate dumplings for a birthday dessert!
Lucy didn't even notice that her loose tooth came out while she was eating her birthday dumplings! She was startled and had a little cry when she realized her tooth was gone, but she was comforted to know that the Tooth Fairy would still come. She wrote a note, just to be sure.
Bop came over to bring Lucy a birthday present! Gram developed a cold that day, and out of an abundance of caution she stayed home and Bop was sure to wear a mask.
A few days later, we were finally able to have Abby come over for an outdoor playdate (Carrie's test came back negative!). Lucy was so thrilled to get to play with her friend after being separated from peers for so long:
We went hiking with the Hongs about a week later. Lucy and Abby held hands several times while hiking. I know social distancing is important, but I didn't have the heart to stop this cute little manifestation of friendship (although we did sanitize hands afterward!).
Here are few more recent pictures of Lucy:
On a recent hike to Franklin Falls
Reading "The Light Princess" with Blondie Bloom and Felicity
She still loves to play with dolls, both the Fisher Price princesses, Blondie Bloom, Felicity, and the Strawberry Shortcake dolls in her doll house. She also enjoys playing with Lego, reading Tomie de Paola books, riding her bike (she just started to ride without training wheels) and playing with Sam. She has a mild interest in playing the piano, and we practice for a few minutes every couple of days. Here is a cute poem that she wrote for kindergarten:
And here are some drawings that also were made about this same time. She likes writing and drawing on the whiteboard, and we have been trying to practice her handwriting this way:
She is getting more independent, although she still prefers to have a friend with her at all times (and in quarantine, that means either me, J or Sam). She is also getting more mature, and we don't often have fits or outbursts of temper from her anymore. She knows that she can get Sam to play with her if the story involves Star Wars, and she has a growing interest in Star Wars lore. She also likes to play Sam's Lego Star Wars game on the iPad, and it is amusing to hear her talking about "defeating" people in that game.
Her day-to-day preferences are almost always the opposite of what Sam wants, whether it is the route for our morning walk with Violet or opinions about what to do during the day, but she and Sam always come to a compromise. They have been good quarantine buddies while we have been stuck at home for the past several months.
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