Amelia had off from school on Thursday and Friday. The teachers in the district were having a sort of in-service to work out the details of the logistics of some kids going back full time and other staying remote. Of course, none of that mattered so much to Amelia in this moment, because what it more realistically meant was that she could play with Henry and his therapist, and just as importantly, that she could wear her pajamas all day.
Can you imagine, dear reader? Spending an entire day in one’s sleeping-clothes? A WEEKDAY? By heavens, it seems completely implausible. I’ve certainly never done it. (Cough.)
Anyway, Henry had a good day in therapy, I got some work done, and all in dall the day progressed pretty well. Toward the end of the afternoon, I could tell Henry was getting antsy and worked up, and it was a nice day, so I figured it would be a good idea to take them to the park to run out som energy. We first visited “the Red Park,” which is is closest to home.
I don’t think we’ve played there since the beginning of COVID, so it as fun being back, and the kids had lots of fun running around. Henry tried over, and over, and over, and over again to climb up the curly slide, and showed an incredible amount of pride when he finally made it.
It was fun for a little while, and then out of nowhere, about 10 kids suddenly converged on the playground, like ninjas conjured from the Lost Boys village in Hook.
While most were wearing masks, it is a pretty small playground and we opted to play it safe and wander on to another, less populated playground. We settled on the one behind Amelia’s school, and played for a while there.
The kids got some energy out, and it was time to head back. I had plans to make a fancy roasted garlic cream sauce pasta thing for dinner, but Erin had a sudden craving for, of all things, ramen noodles. Not the good kind. We’re talking the cheap-o kind I subsisted on in college. That got me craving Kraft Mac n’ Cheese and tuna, so after a quick run to Walgreens, viola! It was a college dorm dinner kind of night.
I got a little fancy and sautéed some onions and peas to mix in with tuna in my mac n’ cheese, and topped it off with a nice tall glass of three-buck chuck. I’m not ashamed to say how awesome it was.
After that, the usual nighttime routine. Got the kids down, did some writing, yadda, yadda. Any day that wraps with Kraft Mac and a glass of Chuck is A-OK with me.
