Early on Friday morning, Amelia excitedly declared to us that, “Today is Amelia and Henry Day!”
That is super cute, and we absolutely love how close the kids have become during this stretch of home isolation. For the sake of full disclosure in regards to the cuteness factor of this particular statement, however, I should note that there are probably 3 or 4 so-declared “Amelia and Henry Days” each week.
Still, both parties seem to take it pretty seriously and they went off on the own to play upstairs. We heard lots of laughing and carrying on, and while always waiting for that shriek or cry or shout, one didn’t come for quite a while.
At some point, Henry drifted downstairs and said he wanted to watch something on TV. That was fine, but we heard quiet sobbing upstairs. Upon further examination, Amelia was sad that Henry didn’t want to play anymore. We asked Henry if he’d consider going back upstairs to play, Henry said, “NO!” with enormous conviction.
Another note of full disclosure…Henry says pretty much everything with enormous conviction. The lad doesn’t do anything halfway. I respect that.
Anyway, we talked to Amelia about the fact that Henry has a choice in what he wants to do, too, and just about the time Amelia came around to reluctant understanding, Henry jumped up and said, “OK, let’s play upstairs.”
Amelia was overjoyed, and we were treated to this epically adorable hug on the stairs.
So sometimes, parenting in quarantine is not all fights, frustration and exhaustion. There is definitely some good stuff, too.
For me, the rest of the day was trying to get caught up on work stuff, and also finally getting our shaggy lawn mowed. It was a beautiful afternoon, so after that was all done, I got to spend some time in the backyard with the kids. I shot a few hoops and managed to get the ball stuck in the net on one of the few shots I actually made.
Amelia decided to focus instead on photojournalism and some kind of video blogging. She was chronicling our time outside on her digital camera.
That night we decided to attempt Mexican carryout again. I was reminded by something I heard the other day when I listed to part of an interview from the guy from the reality show, Bar Rescue. He said that in the past, if someone wanted a burger, they’d go to the place that had their favorite burger. In the current environment, someone might go to the place with their second favorite burger if they feel safer there.
Our first thought as a local Mexican place we attempted on Cinco de Mayo. Once again, their phone was busy. I drove by to see about making an order there, and what I saw was a bunch of people pretty close together in the entry way, very few of them wearing masks.
In the whole masks versus no masks controversy that seems to have weirdly erupted lately, I will declare myself very strong in the pro-mask category. I like tacos, but not enough to risk death by respiratory failure.
So I called up another nearby place that I had kind of forgotten about. Erin and I had lunch there once and while it wasn’t bad, it did seem pretty forgettable. But the staff on the phone was great, they had carryout ready go to, and I made an order. When I showed up, their take out process was super well organized, everyone was masked and people coming in were required to have them on. The person who greeted me was super friendly and was wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mask that I am super jealous of.
I got the food home and it was good! Not mind blowing, but good, and I can tell you that from the experience alone…including the feeling of ease and safety…I will absolutely be going back there.
After dinner, Amelia wanted to play a game, and her choice was dinosaur memory. It’s no secret that my memory is not one of my strong qualities, and Amelia has legitimately been beating me at memory games for years. But hey, I’m game, so Amelia set up.
And then we all sat down to play. What I had forgotten about this game was that, because it is packed with insanely difficult dinosaur names, like Parasaurolophus, Dimetrodon and Pachycephalosaurus. You know, names that really roll off the tongue.
So it felt like we were in an endless holding pattern for a long time, as each of us struggled to find any matches. Henry kept calling every dinosaur “Stompasaurus,” which I actually think is an awesome name for a dinosaur.
Once a few matches were accomplished, we finally made our way through. It was a tight finish, with Erin, Amelia and I all neck in neck. That accomplished, it was time for bed for the kids, and I did my weekly meet up online with some friends to watch a movie. This week’s selection was Back to the Future II, which, while not a perfect movie, is clever and fun. But considering “the future” was five years ago and we still don’t have flying cars or “Mr. Fusion” appliances, I feel a little cheated. Our future stinks.
