Unsurprisingly, school re-opening plans have changed once again. You may have heard Amy’s cry of anguish when she learned that her distance learning phase will last through the end of October, at the very least. She was also furious that uniforms will not be required even if/when she can attend in person. I learned this after ordering new sizes of things for each child. I’m still glad to provide uniforms though as a glimmer of hope and normalcy. Amy plans on wearing her uniform even for distance learning. I also ordered new backpacks, even though I know they may not actually need them. Often by the end of a school year, their backpacks are falling apart or the zippers don’t work, so they needed new ones just because it is good for a person to have a backpack. Sarah asked for a musical note backpack to match her musical note scarf and mask. Amazingly enough, I found one. Amy will be getting a horse-themed backpack, which hopefully will arrive in time for horse camp. Horse camp starts tomorrow, but it is sleep-away camp and I’ve been informed that they leave today. All of this is at our house with sitter A facilitating. Amy’s (swing) horse is Peppermint and Sarah’s is Chester. Sarah names everything Chester.
Sarah loves walking to a restaurant near us and looking at their “Now Open” sign. She also loves the corduroy pants I found for her. She has only been asking for corduroy pants for years. Now she refers to herself as a ridged mouse. Never mind that it might be 90 degrees, she will wear her corduroys and flip-flops!
Amy has been on a hopscotch kick recently. Her original version was that you toss a shared rock and hop down the board regardless of what number your rock hit. This makes it easier and is not competitive. I told her how I used to play when I was younger. It is a harder and more competitive version. We played yesterday and had a great time, with Amy emerging victorious after a close game. In my version each person has a stone marker to throw and has to get it to land on the numbers (1-10) in order. Then you hop all the way down the board, skipping any numbers with markers, and on the way back you pick up your rock and finish your hops. Then you toss again, but if you don’t get your next needed number then it moves to the next person’s turn. It is remarkably hard to get the rocks to land where you want them to land.
There were a few days this week of playing preschool and I think some days of attending higher grades. Amy made lockers out of our folded gymnastics mats. Each child packed their backpack and put it in their locker. They took attendance and did puzzles. Amy assigned homework for the grown-ups.
One morning this week, the Mr. Greg Reads was not a book. It was kittens. Video footage of his adorable foster kittens. Amy was absolutely beside herself. I was rather beside myself too. They were sooooooo cute.
Much love to all of you. May your imagination be able to cover any experiences you don’t get to have for real.
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