More Notes From Home

My schedule is pretty crazy right now. During the day (meaning between 7:30 AM and 9:30 PM), I try to balance doing as much work as I can at home with being a parent to my three boys. It's tough. Pedro Tulo (6) and Luigi (2.5) are definitely not self-sufficient. While The Moose (9) can do more on his own, he can get distracted rather easily by his brothers and needs help keeping focused on any type of school assignments. In theory, I guess we could just let them sit in front of the TV or play on their tablets all day while we work, but that's not productive, and they would get restless. (I should note that there are some really good educational websites/apps out there and the kids can't just "work" all day, so some screen time is definitely fine...for them and everyone's sanity.) Plus, I want to be involved in helping my kids learn and play with them too. Basically, I want to make sure that the kids are happy and feel loved and supported.

So what happens is I end up doing a lot of work after the kids go to bed. I feel bad that I'm sending emails to my colleagues at midnight, but there's no such thing as working a traditional 9:00-5:00 right now. The problem is that I'm not getting enough sleep. Yes, I still fall asleep regularly on the couch working (and watching TV), but I find that I wake back up at 1:30 or 2:00 AM and then do a little more work. I never seem to be too far away from my laptop. Overall, I need to find a better balance. And get regular sleep!

Although my street isn't a traditional cul-de-sac, it's not a through street, so that's where the kids play. There are a few other families on our street, and we see them occasionally while making sure that the kids maintain a social distance from each other. There's a third-grader on the street over that can be annoying but is generally harmless. He seems to wander around, often on his bike, without any type of parental supervision. The other day, he came over to our street and wanted to talk/play with my kids. My wife asked him to keep six feet apart, and the kid responded by saying, "You're not the boss of me." While I appreciate the use of the "Malcolm in the Middle" theme song, my opinion of him has now changed from an annoyance to a brat. Even before everything started, I didn't really like my kids playing with him since he would want to (and sometimes did) ride their scooters even though he is way too big for them. Now, I definitely don't want him to play with them!



Our car lease was about to end, so we had to figure out what to do. Even though we're not going anywhere right now, we need two cars, particularly because the car that we had to turn in was the one we use when taking the entire family out. I definitely wasn't going to visit multiple dealership or take numerous test drives and this was before the stay-at-home order. So I researched everything online and called/emailed multiple dealerships in the area. We ended up leasing the same model vehicle, and I basically went to the dealership to drop off the old car and pick up the new one. The new car has barely moved.

On a related topic, the last time that we purchased gas was March 15th!

We run the dishwasher every day since the five of us use so many dishes, silverware, and cups. SO MANY DISHES!

Finally, our community fitness center has started doing a "kids recess" class. This was the three of them doing push-ups or planking or something. It's generally pretty cute.

Stay safe!