Things are better than they were, and I think that’s worth recording.

We got things straightened out with regard to SNAP and Medicaid in February, and they awarded us back-dated aid to December. So, we have food and medical coverage. It was a lot more work than it should have been, but we were persistent and meticulous, and that yielded results. I’m glad it’s done.

Life is both wonderful and heavy in many regards right now.

It’s the end of April 2022. Adam just turned 43, and got his PMP certification. In 5 days, Gabrielle turns 2. In 7 days, Henry turns 7.

We’ve been home together this entire time (all 2 years), having minimal contact with the outside world in order to keep us all safe from covid. And overall, we’re doing really well, all things considered. Henry’s due for his booster next month, and the US government has decided to keep twiddling their thumbs rather than inoculate children under the age of 5 in a timely fashion, so God only knows when we will be able to resume anything that looks akin to what “normal life” looked like in 2019.

The idea of “Life before Ellie” as our normal? HA. right. Anyhow.

There are a fair number of challenges that I never anticipated dealing with as a mother. One of them is mask training. I mean, survival is the name of the game, so it only makes sense that it’s a parent’s job. But really, I need to spend some quality time with TikTok or YouTube to learn how to get her to wear it reliably. I figure, if I can get her to leave her pigtails in, I might have a chance of getting her to reliably wear a mask. So far, I can get almost 3 minutes of her tolerating having cute hair. So, we’re sticking to outdoor interactions only with a very select number of people who can and do mask around her.

You wouldn’t think, with 20 million kids being unable to get any sort of protection from the virus that we would be seeing an end to federal mask mandates… but I guess the people in charge figure that children who are too young to mask don’t belong out in public at all. It’s the only thing I can think, because kids under 2 cannot wear high quality masks or take any personal responsibility for their own health, and the idea that kids aged 2-4 can reliably wear masks to protect themselves is delusional. I look forward to a future when my daughter gets to meet other kids her age without fear for her well being or mine.

Through all of this, we’ve been homeschooling Henry, and I have been exceptionally proud of his growth. We got him a journal, and so, his recent handwriting work has almost exclusively involved a daily journal practice. The cool thing is that he likes to remind himself of what he’s accomplished, so almost every page involves him talking about how he’s beaten another video game or level boss. I admire his tenacity and persistence and ambition. My kid goes back to games he’s already won and makes sure he has done absolutely everything. This is especially great when it comes to edutainment titles like Letter Quest or Scribblenauts.

So, really, what I need to do with the time I have right now is to stop writing this and get back to researching how to host an awesome online birthday party, since that’s what I’m doing for him next week. It is absolutely not the time for me to drink from the firehose of history and compulsively scroll for information on the ongoing war in Ukraine or the January 6th hearings or the most recent covid research or info about what I can personally do to affect climate change or tips and tricks for neurodivergent parents raising likely-neurodivergent kids or gardening-at-home-on-a-budget tips.

*deep breath*

Everybody’s home, safe.
Everybody’s happy and loved.
Everybody’s healthy enough.
We’re living with as much ease as we can while we move through this moment.

Apologies for the lack of pictures. I’m out of spoons, and frankly, kind of impressed that I found the time to write this much.

Hope you are well. ❤