Since Last We Saw Our Intrepid Adventurers

A lot has happened since I last set aside time to write more than a tweet or four. This time last year the CoVid-19 vaccination was still a dream, something in the far future. We were facing the cold, dark winter stuck indoors, away from family, friends, and neighbours. 

But things have gotten significantly better! Claire and I are both fully vaccinated since the summer. Our kids still aren’t able to get the vaccine, so we’re still being cautious. While activities have been restarting, we’ve been avoiding any large crowds still, and especially avoiding indoor events. 

We have been around friends again since last Spring, going cycling multiple times a week and playing at the various playgrounds near us. As summer rolled around and the case numbers started to drop, we’ve even had friends visit our home, and been to theirs. We’ve kept our bubble small, but that’s been enough. The kids have loved having visitors again, and in some small ways, things feel almost normal. 

Last year, Ada stayed out of school for the entire year, doing daily Zoom classes instead. She loved it, often getting set up five or ten minutes beforehand. She loved doing her assigned homework and showing it off the following day, and while we didn’t let Connor disrupt the class, he certainly absorbed some of what was happening. When asked to be part of a preschool language study group over Zoom, he prepared homework of his own to present at the start of the call, much to the utter delight of the researcher. 

But this year, Ada started in-school learning full time right from September. Claire and I were a little nervous. Case numbers were likely to rise as kids grouped up again, and restrictions had already been relaxed. On top of that, this was our first baby, off to school after a lifetime of Daddy Daycare. On her first day, she waved goodbye, took her friend’s hand and said “Let’s be brave” as they walked through the door together. There were some tears, but not from Ada. 

At the end of the day, she came bursting out to tell us all the amazing things she had done. Her teacher for that first week was surprised to hear she hadn’t been in class last year, as she just slotted in to the routine. I was so proud. She’s loved going to school every day since, and her classmates love her. Apparently she’s the popular kid, playing with everyone in the class.

On the other side, it’s been great having Connor by himself for the first time. We’ve done a bunch of stuff just hte two of us, and his favourite is taking transit, something that we hadn’t been doing throughout the pandemic, so the last time we would have even been on a bus was when he was about two. We’ve taken trips on the bus, hte metro trains and the seabus, for no reason other than to do it. We’ve sometimes gone all the way to North Vancouver, just to get an ice-cream, turn around, and transit home again. He’s a cheap date. 

Claire injured her shoulder towards the end of summer and decided to quit her job to give herself time to properly recover. The future there is uncertain, but filled with possibility. While I’m certain she’d love to spend this time writing, currently she’s dusting off her crochet skills and creating hats and scarves, as she can’t move her shoulder much at all. That’s also why she’s not doing NaNoWriMo this year. 

I continue to provide childcare to a number of preschoolers, the newest of whom was practically a pandemic baby, and hadn’t been with anyone other than mum and dad before coming to me when mum started back at work. She settled right in and is a bubbly, happy, energetic addition to our days. It’s been great having all my “bonus kids” around, as it keeps us in a routine. When it’s just me, Claire and Connor, it’s too easy some days to just throw on YouTube and relax for the day. Which is fine now and then, but I get wrapped up in my own thoughts if I have too many quiet days in a row. I need things to focus my energy on. Though I’m fairly certain there are parents at the school who are very confused by the man that shows up with a random number of children during drop-off and pick-up, sometimes even a different number at each on the same day.

So that’s us in 2021. There’s much more we’ve done, but I’m keeping some stuff back for potential dedicated posts. Consider this a broad stroke overview. More to come.