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Sep. 16th, 2020 09:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahn-My kids are now both in in-person school. E's school is tiny (her class is 4 people), and having seen the likely state of school back in the summer, I pulled A out of the school he was going to attend (the large local public school) and enrolled him in E's school. (His class is 9 kids, up from 4 last year, but I suspect other parents were making the same calculation I was.) Our county has too many cases for schools to open in general, but E's school, since it is so tiny, applied for and got a waiver and just opened up. All the families seem pretty committed to being a pod, so I think this will work out.
All the other kids were all visibly and extremely relieved to be back with other kids (A was happy, though this was tempered, I think, by a bit of trepidation, as he'd never met these kids before, as the usual pre-school meeting events were of course canceled), but although E seemed happy about it, she wasn't particularly overjoyed or anything. But she's been much more even-tempered and less irritable today than she's been in weeks. A. seems to have enjoyed himself as well (though we were pretty much expecting him to, he actually likes people).
-We don't usually lock the door until we go to bed, and the air JUST got OK enough today that we could open the windows without worrying about smoke inhalation, so we did that; so the front window was open. I was writing email on my laptop on the couch next to the window and heard someone through the open window walking on the sidewalk, singing softly and tunelessly. The singing got closer, like the person wasn't on the sidewalk anymore, and then stopped. I looked out (thinking it might be someone from church bringing a treat or a card for the kids or something, which does happen every once in a while) and didn't see anything (it was dark, but I still probably would have seen a friend walking up to the door), and went back to my email. And then the door opened and THIS GUY WALKED IN AND STARTED MUMBLING AT ME. I yelled for D (who was thankfully home and not working late as he often does, though in the other room), and he came and ordered the guy out, who meekly mumbled that he must have made a mistake. He still just stood there, so D actually physically pushed him out the door, and he went.
On one hand: he only stepped a couple of steps into the house, he didn't come at me or anything, he seemed to be trying to talk to me (though I couldn't understand him). Maybe he was drunk? I am terrible at figuring out when people are drunk. It's possible he had the wrong house. On the other hand, he didn't come up to the door when I looked out, as I would have thought someone would have done who had legit mistaken me/the house. He must have been able to see me fairly clearly when I looked outside, and he would have seen I was alone in the room (where D was in the other room, he would not have been visible to someone looking in).
I'm not a big person. He was a lot bigger than me (about D's size, bigger in girth but D was taller). If I'd been alone I would not have been able to get him out by myself. (I also probably would have not thought of pushing him out the door -- I am completely useless in situations like this.)
...I guess now I have to lock the door in the evening.
All the other kids were all visibly and extremely relieved to be back with other kids (A was happy, though this was tempered, I think, by a bit of trepidation, as he'd never met these kids before, as the usual pre-school meeting events were of course canceled), but although E seemed happy about it, she wasn't particularly overjoyed or anything. But she's been much more even-tempered and less irritable today than she's been in weeks. A. seems to have enjoyed himself as well (though we were pretty much expecting him to, he actually likes people).
-We don't usually lock the door until we go to bed, and the air JUST got OK enough today that we could open the windows without worrying about smoke inhalation, so we did that; so the front window was open. I was writing email on my laptop on the couch next to the window and heard someone through the open window walking on the sidewalk, singing softly and tunelessly. The singing got closer, like the person wasn't on the sidewalk anymore, and then stopped. I looked out (thinking it might be someone from church bringing a treat or a card for the kids or something, which does happen every once in a while) and didn't see anything (it was dark, but I still probably would have seen a friend walking up to the door), and went back to my email. And then the door opened and THIS GUY WALKED IN AND STARTED MUMBLING AT ME. I yelled for D (who was thankfully home and not working late as he often does, though in the other room), and he came and ordered the guy out, who meekly mumbled that he must have made a mistake. He still just stood there, so D actually physically pushed him out the door, and he went.
On one hand: he only stepped a couple of steps into the house, he didn't come at me or anything, he seemed to be trying to talk to me (though I couldn't understand him). Maybe he was drunk? I am terrible at figuring out when people are drunk. It's possible he had the wrong house. On the other hand, he didn't come up to the door when I looked out, as I would have thought someone would have done who had legit mistaken me/the house. He must have been able to see me fairly clearly when I looked outside, and he would have seen I was alone in the room (where D was in the other room, he would not have been visible to someone looking in).
I'm not a big person. He was a lot bigger than me (about D's size, bigger in girth but D was taller). If I'd been alone I would not have been able to get him out by myself. (I also probably would have not thought of pushing him out the door -- I am completely useless in situations like this.)
...I guess now I have to lock the door in the evening.
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Date: 2020-09-17 05:45 am (UTC)Also, very very glad that E and A are able to be with other kids! So important.
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Date: 2020-09-17 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 11:20 am (UTC)Depending on how long your family has lived in that place, maybe this is someone who used to live there or was friends/family with someone who lived there, and had some old memories attached?
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Date: 2020-09-17 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 02:13 pm (UTC)And oh my that situation with the intruder sounds like it would be so scary, I'm glad D was able to get him out the door again.
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Date: 2020-09-17 03:03 pm (UTC)Glad the kids are back in school! (I actually didn't realize waivers were still possible under the new tiers scheme. That's good that there's some flexibility left.)
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Date: 2020-09-17 07:01 pm (UTC)I'm so envious of you having an in-person schooling option. My kid misses other kids a lot.
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Date: 2020-09-17 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 07:55 pm (UTC)We've lived there 10 years, which isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, and there were a couple of owners before us, so it is possible. (I hope so, that seems like the most innocuous explanation.)
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Date: 2020-09-17 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 07:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-17 07:59 pm (UTC)Hmm, I didn't think about the new tiers scheme; we're in the purple level, which I would have thought would preclude waivers, so now I'm not sure how that all worked. I know that E and A's school sent in the waiver when we were still in the previous scheme, so it's possible it was grandfathered in in some way? I'll have to look that up.
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Date: 2020-09-17 08:04 pm (UTC)Yeah, we are very lucky. Even in our county, this school is one of only eight (all small) schools that have gotten a waiver so far, out of more than 150 (most of whom didn't even apply because they were too large to really be able to open safely).
I'm glad the physical part of the pandemic isn't (generally speaking) hard on kids, but the lack of social stuff is so hard on these little ones!
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Date: 2020-09-17 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-09-18 01:03 am (UTC)(I also freeze. In a situation that calls for making a quick decision, I will freeze 100% of the time. So I feel for you there.)
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Date: 2020-09-18 04:31 am (UTC)Hope the return to school continues to be smooth for the kids.
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Date: 2020-09-18 08:25 am (UTC)I discovered that out of freeze/flight/fight, I go for fight, or at least if I'm in the right frame of mind I do, which is REALLY WEIRD because I am such a meek, quiet person generally. But one time I was sitting up late at night and I saw someone climb over my back garden fence and I didn't even blink, I charged out the back door screaming at him to get out, barefoot in a nightie that barely covered my bum. He fled. It was possibly the most unlikely thing I've ever done in my life and I still can't quite believe I did it, or that it worked.
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Date: 2020-09-18 06:22 pm (UTC)Yeah, I also freeze 100% of the time, I am just useless in quick-decision situations. Fortunately D is not that way!
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Date: 2020-09-18 06:23 pm (UTC)The kids are having a great time, it is really nice they can be with other kids -- we are super lucky they can do that! After two days A. has already told me he has a best friend, lol.
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Date: 2020-09-18 06:31 pm (UTC)Oh man, that is a scary story and I'm really glad you were able to put him to flight! That is awesome that you were able to do that (and also an amazing mental picture, I was cheering for past!you :D ) and I so admire that.