Leader of the (Online) Pack

Our elementary school has done the best they can to try to provide some kind of school connection for the kids. While all their classes are online, a lot of the additional school programs and activities are just cancelled for now. However, they have continued their tradition of selecting a leader of the month from each class every month and have celebrated those kids’ accomplishment by compiling a slide show featuring several pictures of each child and sharing it with everyone. This month we were delighted to be notified that Malia was selected as this month’s leader in her class! She was very excited and when we picked up her award and her prize package from the school, we discovered that her teacher selected her because she has been proactive in the switch to online learning. Malia has definitely done that. While there have been hard days, most of the time she has been ready and willing to get her schoolwork done. She has not hesitated to reach out to her teacher via email, chat, instant message and video chat open hours in order to ask questions and receive guidance and individualized learning. She is in the habit of turning everything in on time and while she would much rather be in the classroom, she is still learning and progressing.

This was just a little bit of normalcy for Malia and a chance to celebrate some of the good that is to be found in our present circumstances. She has risen to the challenge and is working hard to continue to be a great student.

A Pleasant Surprise

Today is Nathan’s 17th birthday. He was gone most of the day, so we didn’t actually see him all that much, but I’m ok with that. It’s not that I didn’t want to spend time with him, it just means that he actually had places to go and people to see which is like a small miracle in our current circumstances.

He started off his day by gathering with a small group of friends for breakfast at Denny’s. Breakfast turned into elevensies which turned into brunch and nearly became lunch, so he was too full to eat his previously selected birthday lunch. (We did lunch instead of dinner this time since he works this evening.) He was perfectly content saving his tuna melts for lunch tomorrow but was perfectly pleased to eat his apple spice birthday cake and Tillamook ice cream for a midafternoon snack today. Afterwards, he headed off to work and while most people would not think of going to work an especially wonderful birthday activity, Nathan really enjoys his job. He likes having a focus and a purpose to his days. He enjoys the environment and the opportunity to meet and converse with so many different people. And, of course, he likes the paychecks. The whole thing helps him feel like he’s making good use of the many empty hours each day has held for him since everything shut down in March.

In terms of birthday presents, we have given Nathan the Scooby Do expansion pack for Betrayal at House on the Hill, a board game he got for Christmas and really enjoys. He has always been a Scooby Do fan, so it is a wonderful, campy addition to the game. He will have to wait for it since it won’t be released until July, but he’s super excited!

As previously mentioned on multiple occasions, this shutdown has been hard for my kids. Nathan assumed that having a birthday in the midst of Covid would be terrible. But I feel very blessed to say that he actually had a super day! He admits that despite his earlier feelings, it turned out to be a good birthday. Thank goodness for the multitude of tender mercies that made it so!

 

 

Teeter Totter

 Matthew did another food challenge today. He has been a trooper in terms of these weekly events. He has shown so much courage and I’m so proud of him for being able to take these steps forward in spite of his fears. Unfortunately, today was yet another disappointment. He tested a full-size cake baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and while he didn’t react to one bite, he did react to a full piece.

There was been a lot of back and forth with these challenges. Sometimes he reacts and sometimes he doesn’t. We’re not sure why but we’re hoping by continuing the process we can get a better idea of what his reaction threshold is so that he can continue to add some new things to his diet. But it is a slow process and it’s definitely taking longer than any of us want.

Return to Hogwarts

 After some heroic efforts on the part of our third-grade teachers and the acquiescence of the district, the greatly anticipated school Harry Potter week actually happened. Even though Malia had already done a full week of Harry Potter earlier in the month, it in no way diminished her excitement for the event. She simply decided that she could be a second-year student rather than a first year. We picked up all her gear at the school and let me tell you that the teachers really went all out. The great thing was that between the two weeks, there was very little overlap. Some activities that worked great at home would have been difficult in a classroom setting (our planting of the mandrakes and the scavenger hunt for the sorcerer’s stone) and others worked much better in a school setting (house points, visits to the house commons rooms, magical math). This week she got to color her house t-shirt (she was Ravenclaw this time), hatch a dragon egg, and engineer a Gringott’s cart track. Some aspects of it were disappointing to her and she felt like is was not as fun as she had expected, but I think that was largely a casualty of Covid and the shift to online school. But overall, I think she enjoyed the majority of the week’s activities. And kudos to our amazing teachers who were able to pull the whole thing off.

A More Favorable Outcome

After last Saturday’s cupcake disappointment, Matthew had a bit of success today. We used the same recipe and baked it as a full-sized cake. It baked for 30 minutes at 365 degrees and he did not react. It made for a happier day for him. We still have a bunch on things he needs to try, but this is a step forward.

The Real World

Now that we’ve returned to the muggle world, here a sum up of some of the non-magical occurrences in the past week. 

Daniel is gainfully employed. He will be working at the Amazon warehouse. He starts in a couple of weeks and is glad to have a source of income so he will have some money in the bank when he gets started at USU in the fall. He had his onboarding earlier this week and will be able to start once his background check is completed. He has decided to double major in mechanical engineering and music and spent this week brushing up on several of his solos from last year so he could submit an audition video to the music department. Once he did, he was conditionally accepted into the music program, pending the passing of his first jury, which is normal. Next week he has a virtual meeting with the academic advisor so he can start planning out his schedule. He also got into on campus housing this week in one of his top choices in terms of which hall. For the first time since he came home, he is actually excited about school in the fall. That is a definitely a tender mercy.

Nathan has also gotten a job. He is working at Harmons as a bagger until he turns seventeen in two weeks, and then he may move to a cashier position. He had his onboarding orientation yesterday. He had a four-hour training scheduled for today, but when he completed it in only two hours, they put him to work right away. He is very excited to have a source of income because he would really like to go on two school tours next year…assuming the world has returned to a more normal state by then. It also gives him a productive way to spend all the extra hours that he currently has. And once his AP tests are over, he will have even more free time. 

With the state of economy being what it is right now and unemployment being so high, I feel like it is a huge blessing that both Daniel and Nathan have been able to find work so easily. It gives them a way to fill the many empty hours, a change of scenery, and a way to prepare for the more normal future we are all looking forward to. 

Matthew did another at home food challenge this morning and unfortunately, it did not go as we had hoped. It was eggs in cupcakes, and he had a reaction after his first bite. He was incredibly disappointed. As we’ve worked through egg waffles, egg muffins, egg cornbread and other egg quick breads, he has become increasingly more excited about adding additional foods to his diet. He has been so courageous with this whole process and today was quite a blow. But he’s not done trying. We’ve spent some time pondering the differences between the foods he is tolerating well and the cupcakes, and we have a couple of thoughts. First of all, waffles and muffins cook at higher temperatures than cupcakes, at least 50 degrees hotter. Muffins also bake a bit longer. Cornbread and quick breads bake longer than cupcakes, at least 15 minutes longer and in the case of banana bread, a full 45 minutes longer. That leads us to believe that perhaps he needs things that cook either hotter or longer in order to break the egg proteins down a sufficient amount. Our next step is to try a full-sized cake since that will bake 10-15 minutes longer than a cupcake. We are also going to increase the frequency of his safe egg consumption to see if that will be beneficial. At that point, we’ll have a conversation with his doctor to reassess the plan. As of right now, it looks like eggs in cookies is not going to be within his reach, but we’ll see how things progress in the future. He is not giving up. 

We received Malia’s track assignment and unexpectedly, she will be on A track next year. That was actually very unexpected because B is always our first choice and since A track is always in such great demand and B is not, we’ve never gotten anything other than B. Nevertheless, somehow Malia ended up on A track and she’s terribly disappointed. Not only will she not be in the same class as all the other B track enthusiasts that she’s been with since kindergarten, but she will not have the teacher she was expecting. Our 4^th grade B track teacher is amazing, and we’re both bummed that we won’t get to work with her. And to be completely honest, I’m also disappointed that Malia won’t be home with me for the month of December. I really enjoy having that time to spend doing crafts and activities. On the flip side, having her on A track makes scheduling a family vacation for next summer easier. She will finish school a week after Nathan and Matthew and will have six weeks before the start of the next school year. Although we don’t have any definite plans as of yet, we are tossing around the idea of going to Oregon next year. It would give Daniel a chance to see more of the state than he did, give us a chance to see the area and meet the people he served with, and provide us one last family adventure before Nathan leaves home for whatever is next. And ever since our trip to Seattle a few years back, we’ve all had a desire to head back to the Pacific northwest. So there are pros and cons to the track assignment. I’m hoping that there are at least a couple kids Malia knows on track with her, and I know she is hoping for the same thing. We’ll have to wait and see. 

Overall, it feels like we’ve hit a new normal around here. Everyone is pretty settled in their routines and I don’t wake up each morning feeling like nothing is as it should be. As a few businesses start to reopen and guidelines about social interactions relax a bit, I think we’re all glad and ready to be able to have a bit more freedom. On the other hand, I still feel a need to be incredibly cautious. I think that will be with me for quite a while. I’m already a bit of a clean freak and a germaphobe (Ok, maybe more than a little. I can be honest here.) and I find myself obsessing a bit about making sure everything is clean and everyone is careful. Being out in public still puts me on edge. But having some semblance of a normal life back would be positive for all of us. In the meantime, we continue to make things work at home and try to add some good to the world every day.

Malia's Feelings About Harry Potter Week

HARRY POTTER WEEK WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-) It was the best week of my life. I even got a paper owl that delivered my post to me. I was like “WHAT!!!???!!!???” There is not a single week that could over power it with fun. Not kidding. I had so much FUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was like waaaaa waaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaa when it was over. I wanted to never end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Sweet Ending

Fridays are short days at our elementary school and that tradition has continued in our current online school situation. As such, Malia completed her muggles studies in a very short amount of time this morning. Her owl, whom she has named Hedwig in honor of Harry Potter’s owl, arrived with a message just as she was completing her muggle studies. She was informed that Voldemort was hunting for the sorcerer’s stone and she had to find it before he did! She was also given a clue that set her on the trail. She was confused at first because she didn’t understand that she was going on a scavenger hunt, but once she understood she was off like a flash! 

This scavenger hunt for the sorcerer’s stone was honestly one of the most fun parts of the week to plan and execute. I combed the first couple of Harry Potter books for quotes that would lead Malia to certain places or objects scattered all over the house and yard. We sent her to the mailbox, the vacuum cleaner, the fireplace, the Aveo, even her sock drawer. We had flying keys, a chessboard, and some Devil’s Snare. The two funniest locations were her visit to Moaning Myrtle (in the toilet, of course) and her encounter with our very own version of Fluffy, the three headed dog. The boys and I followed her around and we were all laughing like crazy. The hunt ended when she stood gazing into the Mirror of Erised (my full-length mirror). It took her awhile, and some very pointed clues, but she was finally able to see the stone, which she could only see when reflected in the mirror due to some fantastic hiding skills on my part. At least, it was the supplies to create a sorcerer’s stone of her very own. 

Our end of term feast consisted of drumsticks, rice-a-roni, corn and butterbeer with a pumpkin cake for dessert. It was Malia’s interpretation of the feasts in the books. I did take some liberties with dessert and recreated the birthday cake Hagrid made for Harry’s eleventh birthday. It was super fun and made everyone giggle and was a sweet end to a fantastic week.

A couple of weeks ago we actually heard that the third grade teachers are still planning to hold Harry Potter week, but when I asked Malia if she wanted to cancel ours or do it the same week as the school one, she opted to continue with ours and keep it separate from the school one. She’s a smart girl. She knows that staying the course with our plans means she will get to visit Hogwarts twice. And I’m ok with that. With so much out of our control, I felt like it was necessary to do what I could to bring a little joy to my disappointed household. And I think I’ve managed to do just that. All the planning and work have been worth it. It has lightened the mood a bit, given us all something to look forward to, and brought a little magic into our lives.