Today, Tuesday, April 7, 2020, marks the start of the fourth week of the new normal. As a family yesterday was the most successful “New Normal” day that we have had. Every other day there has been someone that was off their game. Brainy Bird not getting his school work done, or me being exhausted, or Little Chirp seeming down, or Trooper having a medical emergency.
The key to yesterday’s success was planning, communication, levity and execution. Over the weekend, I made a plan for each weekday, and I made a casserole, so that we would not having any cooking to do. When the boys arrived home on Sunday, I clearly set expectations for the week. I even created a homeschool newsletter to make things more fun. Then I introduced them to a little scavenger hunt game that I had made up. Little Chirp loves the game.
Come Monday morning, it was up to each individual to do their part, and everyone did exactly that. Our Tuesday is also off to a solid start. Both boys were greeted in homeroom with the Tuesday version of the newsletter. Little Chirp is busy with his 45 minutes of reading, and Brainy Bird is doing a few chores around the house before he starts his day.
Brainy Bird’s chores are modern day chores. I cannot find what from Amazon keeps charging my old credit card. The credit card in my Amazon account is definitely my new card, so what from Amazon keeps getting charged to my old card? Brainy Bird’s chore is figuring this out. It is driving me crazy.
I feel that as a family we have settled in, and we are making the most of our “New Normal” days. There are things that we are doing well, I am getting a ton of work done, and Little Chirp is crushing it on the school front. Little Chirp is also spending a great deal of time at his basketball hoop. I can see him from the window at my desk, and I see a dramatic improvement. Brainy Bird is enjoying a bit of a rest; his school schedule was insane prior to the “New Normal”. He is spending lots of time with his little brother and the fur kids. As of yesterday, he is back to working hard on his school work. I am running more than I ever have in my life.
At best we have four more weeks of this. It could be much longer than that; for the sake of our entire nation, I hope not. Meanwhile, as I hoped in the first “New Normal” blog post, we are not just surviving we are thriving. We are making the most of the situation, which is all that we can do. We are praying for those in much, much worse circumstances.
We are appreciating the little things in life.