Today is the last day of the federally mandated social distancing. Ohio Governor, Mike DeWine is planning to extend the stay-at-home order but will phase it out. Essentially, it's not life as normal starting tomorrow but a gradual going back to where we were before the pandemic.
I feel really fortunate that J is able to work from home even though his work isn't essential. Aside from Hulk missing school or (being able to go anywhere) it has been life as normal for us. I know people who are very serious about the social distancing and I've seen people golfing, playing soccer, or otherwise not distancing at all. We have a friend with a daughter who is a senior in high school, he took to social media to blast the shut down and argue that high school seniors should be allowed to celebrate with each other. He has since taken the post down (I am assuming due to the negative feedback he received).
A few days ago I was listening to a Q&A with a pediatrician and child psychologist and they were discussing how young babies need to be interacted with because it enhances neurological development. So then I felt like a horrible parent because Teddy gets very little one on one time with me. But I have noticed that when I do sit down to play with him, while he loves interacting with me, he's only interested for a few minutes before he wants to start crawling around and exploring. He'll go anywhere and get into anything he can. 
Little Viking Girl has several stuffed animals and two actual baby dolls that she considers her babies. But she'll have a different favorite each day - she doesn't try to take care of all of them at once. It is really sweet to watch her interact with her baby. The only really frustrating part is when she puts things out for her baby and if I try to move them she gets upset. Yesterday, she set up a play area for her baby in the middle of my bedroom. She also really likes cooking for us in her play kitchen, especially when she herself is hungry and I am taking too long getting food ready. Today, instead of using her play utensils she pulled out our metal forks, knives, and spoons to play with. Which was fine. Later she decided she wanted to make a mess (seriously, she came up to me and said, "mommy mess?" to ask if she could make one). Of course, she then had to clean up the mess. Hulk is very tidy and likes order. If you deviate from the plan or what is expected, he gets very upset. If you were to look up "oldest child stereotypes" that's Hulk. J and I can be strict and demanding but we're not overprotective and I like to think that we have the same expectations for Viking Girl. Hulk loves order and while he often expects me to do things for him, he likes the feeling of responsibility and when I thank him for helping. Viking Girl will leave things sporadically around the house. If she's done with an item she'll put it on a table, chair, floor, what ever thing is closest to her and then walk off. With her, I have to teach her to put things away and monitor her after I have asked her to do something otherwise she'll just walk away. With Hulk, it comes naturally. Viking Girl does have more stamina, she'll complain because she doesn't want to do something but that's the extent of her complaining. Hulk will complain that I am making him work and that "it's too hard." Last week, we were cleaning out the garden beds in preparation to put in our starters. And by "we" I mean me and Hulk. We had been working on the garden beds for maybe 15 minutes when Hulk asked if he could go inside to play legos.
Me: We're almost done, I would like you to help finish.
Hulk: *commences whining* But I've been outside for ten hours!
Me: You are good at exaggerating. That will serve you well when it comes time to write resumes.
Hulk: *sits down to pout*
Me: Come on buddy (I then outlined what we needed to do to finish).
Hulk: *continues to whine*
Me: I am such a good mom because I am teaching you to work hard.
When Hulk was a baby and toddler I tried giving him more gender neutral toys. I remember one time, we were in a store and Hulk was interested in a doll house (he was probably between 18 months and 2 years old at the time). A lady behind me said, "He's a boy! Boys don't play with dolls." My mom has even said to Hulk, "Boys don't wear dresses." Disregarding the cultural and historical inaccuracies of my mom's statement, Hulk has never really been interested in dolls or other stereotypical girls' toys. Viking Girl, despite being sandwiched in-between two boys is. We bathe the kids together, she knows there's a physical difference between her brothers and her. Randomly during the day she'll start telling me about how her brothers have a penis but she doesn't. There have been a few times that Hulk has told me that he wishes he were a girl. To which I tell him that it's great to be a boy because you can pee standing up. Yesterday, for the first time, Viking Girl told me that she wanted to be a boy. I told her that she is strong and we need more strong women in the world.
Today, Hulk's school lesson was over rabbits. We have a few different friends with rabbits as pets and Hulk is jealous. But I believe that he's jealous over the novelty of a pet rabbit because he does not interact very much with our dog or cat. I also believe that if we were to get him a pet rabbit it would actually be my pet rabbit because I would be the one making sure it was properly taken care of. So that's not going to happen.Hulk's piano lesson today was particularly rough. Teddy was crying and Viking Girl was offended that she couldn't play the piano at the same time as Hulk (she is his shadow in most everything). Hulk was not taking his piano lesson seriously and kept composing. Typically, I encourage this but at that moment it felt like he was being selfish because he knew he had my attention while at the piano but his other siblings needed my attention too. I have often had the thought that if we had the money I would love to hire a piano teacher for him but then I remember that even if we had a teacher I would be the one that made sure he practiced. So it doesn't seem worth it to pay someone $$ so I don't have to fight with him for one day out of the week when in actuality I would probably have to fight with him to go to the lesson. In the end his lesson was cut short and Viking Girl took a plethora of pictures on my phone because I gave it to her (to take pictures) so I could more quickly finish with Hulk.
But it all ended in a dance party. Silver linings?
Now to just delete my budding photographer's work from my phone.
You are a good mom!
ReplyDelete