My Life In Pictures - February 2020

With February almost complete, I thought I would share what’s going on in my life.

* We got this note in Pedro Tulo’s backpack.

Our immediate response: What happened YESTERDAY? When we emailed the teacher about it, she wanted to set up a phone call. Uh oh!

* Luigi has been sick since Sunday. He woke up with a high fever on Sunday and Monday mornings, but after taking some ibuprofen, was completely fine though the fever spiked again on Wednesday morning. I took him to the doctor on both Monday and Wednesday, and they tested him for the flu (three times between the two appointments) and strep. All of the tests came back negative. Unfortunately, the Wednesday appointment showed that he had an ear infection. There’s something called RSV (not to be confused with PSV, a Dutch soccer team) that has gone around the preschool, so it's probably that. According to the CDC website, symptoms of Respiratory Syncytial Virus include a runny nose, decrease in appetite, coughing, and fever. That seems about right for Luigi.

Anyway, here is Luigi taking a 2.5 hour nap on me Wednesday.

He's generally been very happy and active throughout the week (except when I want him to drink something!), but he can't go back to school until the fever stays down.

* A local restaurant hosts a weekly Bingo game geared towards families, so I took the kids there recently. I mention this because everyone there was so supportive. When someone yelled out "Bingo," most people clapped or cheered. When I was in college, a friend and I played Bingo once at a local fire hall. (I may be wrong about the location.) It was intense! People had multiple cards and ink Bingo markers. My friend won one game, and the regulars were quite upset that a college kid beat them. No Bingo markers at this game. Crayons only!

* I took a school trip to Washington DC when I was in 8th grade. I don’t remember much about the trip, except that seeing the White House was the worst part. You waited in line for seemingly forever, only to see a few roped off rooms with fancy chairs and plates. I recently had a chance to take a White House tour and thought I should give it another chance. It was better than I remembered, but there are still so many other things I’d recommend seeing and doing in DC. Two things stuck out. First, I liked that there is a soccer goal in the Kennedy Garden. Although there’s no room for anything other than penalty kicks (practicing corner kicks seems impossible!), it's still pretty cool.

The second is that I "saw" the President leaving the White House (per the incredible picture below). When a friend asked a Secret Service guy if he was taking the helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base, he replied "something like that." I know secret is in the title, but I looked later and saw his published schedule state depart White House and then arrive to and depart from Andrews. A yes would have been okay. (And yes, it was cool seeing the helicopter.)

* Finally, I took this picture from a hotel restaurant near the White House.

There is a lot to complain about living in the DC area (mostly the cost of living and the traffic), but views like these are incredible.