I had all the best intentions of getting up early today, but last night I was woken up twice by Eleanor. The first was to give her water and Tylenol– her fever was back up again. The second time her fever was down, but she wanted a hug and a snuggle. That last time was around 5:45 AM, and I could have stayed up, but I decided– I think wisely– to try and get some more sleep. And so Day 2 of our COVID-19 self-quarantine began at 7:25 when I woke up again, much later than I’m used to.

This put me off my game and made me pretty grumpy, at least until I managed to get some exercise. It helped that Eleanor woke up fever-free. I’d been up tossing and turning, worrying about going to the pediatrician’s office. That’s pretty much the last place I want to be right now! (No offense to our pediatrician, whom we adore.) I’m hoping she’ll keep fighting whatever this is on her own so we don’t have to go in. It’s funny that going to the doctor is usually the responsible choice, but in this situation, the risk might not be worth the reward.

Day 2

We followed a similar schedule to yesterday’s, except that Edwin didn’t do any math (he ended up finishing the entire packet last night, so now we need to find him some workbooks ASAP). We did another music class over FaceTime with my mom. We’d used the same iPad yesterday evening for Eleanor’s dance class– it was so cute watching her dance with her teacher and friends on the screen! I’m looking forward to a karate class for Edwin tonight. I’m so grateful to our community for setting up virtual classes so quickly.

Then disaster hit– our TV broke! We’ve only had it for 6 months or so. We still don’t know how it happened, but there’s a spiderweb of cracks on the top of the screen. There’s only one TV in our house (though we do have other screens) and I can’t imagine getting through multiple days without it. Luckily my husband found one at Best Buy and they offered curbside pickup, so buying a new one was relatively simple. (And thankfully cheaper than I expected.)

By the end of the day, we’d all done what we’d planned to do, Eleanor was reasonably healthy (and we’d avoided the doctor’s office for one more day), I’d done some writing (though not as much or as well-done as yesterday) and we’d connected with some family. A perfectly fine day 2.

Day 3 and Beyond

We were told today that we should consider the next ten days our spring break, because if we do go back to school at the currently scheduled date of 4/1, we will not be getting any more days off for the rest of the year (for us in NY, that’s the end of June). It’s a bit of a mindset shift. Is homeschooling really necessary, in that case? And shouldn’t I be taking more of a break if it’s the last one I’ll get? And is it possible to have a truly relaxing break if you can’t go anywhere or do anything?

These are questions to ponder as we enter phase 2 of the quarantine: pretending it’s a normal spring break.