The Quarantimes 2: Finding the Rhythm

Two ways Phoebe has injured herself in the last 24 hours while quarantined at home:

1. Jumping from bottom step to floor, somehow landed wrong and is limping now

2. Trying to balance a wooden ruler on her lips, accidentally opened her mouth and half swallowed the ruler so the sharp edge cut her throat

Keeping them out of the ER during this time is one of my hardest jobs. So yes, we have been watching way too much TV.

This morning I overheard Phoebe telling Eliza that “giants aren’t real” while watching Frozen II at 7:30 am. Is it me or is Anna a real insecure nightmare to Kristoff in this one? I think it’s supposed to be funny how she keeps rebuffing his attempts to propose, but honestly I want to slap her. I have other deep thoughts about the Frozen oeuvre if you’re interested. 

Faux-homeschooling takes up part of the day. This week, my kids are particularly into word searches in the unicorn workbooks we bought a few weeks ago when things started to look dark. They’re also still playing a lot of hot lava, a game the adults around here are pretty sick of, as it involves mucho crawling on furniture, shimmying up door jams, and begging to be ferried from one room to the next.

I started this quarantine experience with a schedule I knew would need major tweaking, and it has. But it’s also been very comforting having a rhythm to our days. What I’ve learned is that the rhythm is far more important than the timing. In other words, it doesn’t really matter what time things happen; what matters is that they happen in a sequential, predictable order.

I am all for colored chalkboard routines. In fact, writing out our schedule has become a nice family activity every evening before we go upstairs for bath. I write out the rhythm for the next day (almost always the same with a few ad hoc items here and there), and the girls decorate the borders.

Of course, the entire thing must be taken with a grain of salt. The yoga element is mostly a pipe dream on my part. “Circle” takes about 3 minutes with usually only one daughter paying attention. The “Work” portion of the day is a very loosely structured affair. And don’t get me started on “Quiet Time.”

However, if one has to be quarantined at home with children, I think five might be the ideal age. One of the silver linings coming out of this for me is the opportunity to observe these creatures in the wild much more intensely as I ever have before. I am really getting to know them in ways I did not realize I was missing. You guys, they are so cool.

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What I’m reading:

Life on Lockdown in China in The New Yorker 

Why Soap Works in the New York Times

And  this incredible article my mom sent me on the Atlantic: How the Pandemic Will End — although I must admit I’ve only read half of it so far because it makes me hyperventilate. 

What I’m watching:

I actually watched this 13-minute video on how to properly sanitize your groceries and holy shit, these are intense times, people. After I watched it I had an epiphany that washing most things with soap and water is just fine, and that lysoling one’s food containers might be borderline crazy?

What I’m listening to:

Because I am no longer in the car, ever, I haven’t listened to a podcast in weeks. Which is probably for the best, as the information overload is a big deal.

What I’m working on:

For my client Box, a series of blog posts about the pivot to remote work, based on fresh interviews with company leadership, including this first one to be published: https://blog.box.com/keeping-customer-success-teams-steady-amid-rapid-change