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Mar. 24th, 2020 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnSo first: I have two new favorite books! :) A. has written (and illustrated) his first book (a project for school that was unfinished and sent home with all his stuff when they closed, and that he subsequently finished a couple of days ago). It is, of course, a masterpiece! :) It is a heartwarming depiction of the love of Buba ("Bubba") and Bubu ("Booboo") and occasionally Bube ("Bubbee"). Sample text, with orthography reproduced as far as I am able: "bUbU LOVES bUbA" and "HE LOVES HiM"
Spoiler: Bubu and Buba are, in the end, tragically separated by Bubu's, or possibly Buba's, propensity for being BAD. ("YoUr BAD!") Or possibly because Bubu and Buba ended up going to different kindergartens. [A. already knows he and his preschool friends are going to different kindergartens.] The book is rather hard to understand but I had many discussions with the author about his intent, though those discussions were sometimes contradictory.
Then, of course, E. wanted to do it too (she has never been interested in writing a book before), so she wrote (and illustrated) her first book, about foxy. (Foxes are her favorite animal.) Like A.'s book, it was mostly pictures, with even fewer words than A.'s book, though with a narrative thrust that is rather easier to follow. This is not really a love story; it is indeed about the foxy's life as hiding from any people who might be around, but with a happy ending as foxy finds its fox-cub.
The rest of life: I have had many of my commitments revoked (Sunday is suddenly a day... full of time! Amazing!) but adding in child/homeschool care (and the absence of a couple of activities that also provided some kid-free time for me) and also accounting for my boss wanting us to deliver our reports and briefings anyway (which on one hand I think is utterly hilarious, like at this point does anyone actually care whether we deliver a powerpoint on time?? and on the other hand, okay, I can see that boss wants to make sure we can all continue to get paid, which does rather make sense) I find myself with somewhat less overall free time (and, okay, I'm spending way too much of that time looking in awed fascination at those exponential curves).
Socioemotionally, our family of four has three extreme introverts in it, two of which are arguably on the spectrum, so we are... sort of scarily well equipped for sheltering in place. (A., the fourth, is probably not as introverted as the rest of us but is still introverted, and also is still at an age where he prefers hanging out with his family to hanging out with his friends, so this is working out for him too.) E thinks this is all the greatest. She isn't having any problem socializing primarily through the internet. A. has started asking when he is going back to school, but he's still excited about the novelty of having both parents at home much more often. Also we have both way too many toys and way too many books, so we are rather well stocked in that aspect as well (although the only books E reads these days are Warrior Cats books, and though she has several I think she's almost at the end of them). I suspect it is more of a problem that we might have trouble adjusting to normal life again, if/when it gets back to something more typical. We are doing a lot of biking.
In other news, or possibly related to the increase in biking, I have been getting a bunch of bites on my feet and legs. My sister says it sounds to her like fleas. We don't have any dogs or cats. Blaaaargh. I suppose D and I have more time at home these days to vacuum and do lots of laundry, both of which I understand are necessary parts of dealing with a flea infestation (I just also bought Vet's Best Flea Spray from amazon). And I guess it could be rather worse pests, and I am the only one who is getting bitten, suggesting that it hasn't gotten to the kids' rooms, but blaaaargh. This is why we don't have dogs or cats! (Any tips for dealing with fleas would be appreciated!)
Spoiler: Bubu and Buba are, in the end, tragically separated by Bubu's, or possibly Buba's, propensity for being BAD. ("YoUr BAD!") Or possibly because Bubu and Buba ended up going to different kindergartens. [A. already knows he and his preschool friends are going to different kindergartens.] The book is rather hard to understand but I had many discussions with the author about his intent, though those discussions were sometimes contradictory.
Then, of course, E. wanted to do it too (she has never been interested in writing a book before), so she wrote (and illustrated) her first book, about foxy. (Foxes are her favorite animal.) Like A.'s book, it was mostly pictures, with even fewer words than A.'s book, though with a narrative thrust that is rather easier to follow. This is not really a love story; it is indeed about the foxy's life as hiding from any people who might be around, but with a happy ending as foxy finds its fox-cub.
The rest of life: I have had many of my commitments revoked (Sunday is suddenly a day... full of time! Amazing!) but adding in child/homeschool care (and the absence of a couple of activities that also provided some kid-free time for me) and also accounting for my boss wanting us to deliver our reports and briefings anyway (which on one hand I think is utterly hilarious, like at this point does anyone actually care whether we deliver a powerpoint on time?? and on the other hand, okay, I can see that boss wants to make sure we can all continue to get paid, which does rather make sense) I find myself with somewhat less overall free time (and, okay, I'm spending way too much of that time looking in awed fascination at those exponential curves).
Socioemotionally, our family of four has three extreme introverts in it, two of which are arguably on the spectrum, so we are... sort of scarily well equipped for sheltering in place. (A., the fourth, is probably not as introverted as the rest of us but is still introverted, and also is still at an age where he prefers hanging out with his family to hanging out with his friends, so this is working out for him too.) E thinks this is all the greatest. She isn't having any problem socializing primarily through the internet. A. has started asking when he is going back to school, but he's still excited about the novelty of having both parents at home much more often. Also we have both way too many toys and way too many books, so we are rather well stocked in that aspect as well (although the only books E reads these days are Warrior Cats books, and though she has several I think she's almost at the end of them). I suspect it is more of a problem that we might have trouble adjusting to normal life again, if/when it gets back to something more typical. We are doing a lot of biking.
In other news, or possibly related to the increase in biking, I have been getting a bunch of bites on my feet and legs. My sister says it sounds to her like fleas. We don't have any dogs or cats. Blaaaargh. I suppose D and I have more time at home these days to vacuum and do lots of laundry, both of which I understand are necessary parts of dealing with a flea infestation (I just also bought Vet's Best Flea Spray from amazon). And I guess it could be rather worse pests, and I am the only one who is getting bitten, suggesting that it hasn't gotten to the kids' rooms, but blaaaargh. This is why we don't have dogs or cats! (Any tips for dealing with fleas would be appreciated!)
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Date: 2020-03-25 06:30 am (UTC)Yay, biking. Boo, bites. :/
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Date: 2020-03-27 05:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-25 07:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-27 05:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-25 03:15 pm (UTC)I feel for E., when I've had a little too much home-time interacting with human beings again is definitely An Adjustment.
Other than flea bites... any chance it could be mosquitoes? But no, then it wouldn't just be lower body bites, would it? Good luck dealing with the situation!
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Date: 2020-03-27 05:30 am (UTC)I don't think it's mosquitoes, as my body reacts in a different way to mosquito bites. It could be a different type of bug, of course. There are often ants about, for instance, and more lately than usual because of the rain. Although I'm not sure ants bite that much...
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Date: 2020-03-25 08:45 pm (UTC)I hate bugs.
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Date: 2020-03-27 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-26 04:34 pm (UTC)We're quasi-locked down over here too, albeit not in as extreme a way as you guys are, and I am not dealing particularly well (schools are open, so kids are going about their day, as is Hub's work; I'm not sure if that makes things better or worse?). One of the associates in my team is on Day 6 of her fever and has just been tested, so we're worrying about her (we've all been WFH so there should be minimal spread). I've been dealing with the anxiety by watching the free Met stream and Dmitry Hvorostovsky's beautiful face and crying a lot ;) Glad to hear you and the fam are coping well, if being somewhat fleabitten!
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Date: 2020-03-27 05:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-27 07:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-29 05:26 am (UTC)