By: Revanche

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (110)

July 11, 2022

Year 3 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Year 3, Day 108: Alas. We had ONE good sleep night, Saturday, and it made Sunday feel 100x better than an average day. It was too much to hope for a second solid sleep like that but 5 wake-ups in the night is too much! Like a dang boomerang.

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Anyway, I didn’t want to jinx us by recording the immediate post-vax reaction but now that we’re 72 hours out, it seems reasonably safe to report the short term: Smol Acrobat seems to be taking Dose 1 very well. They hardly noticed the actual needle, which is unusual, and they didn’t seem to have any side effects. No fever, fatigue, aches. Side effects to Moderna are expected to last a couple days so I think we’re through the woods on that part.

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Gas is currently $6.06/gal. Just stating that for posterity’s sake.

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We’re not celebrating this national holiday. We’re very tired humans. And we’re humans who are very tired of this country being a place that is controlled by the Christian right and tells most of us we’re second class or lower, that we don’t deserve to live happy healthy lives unless it’s within specifically drawn out lines of “acceptability” and says that it’s ok that children are slaughtered in schools as long as they can have their guns. This is not and has never been a great place. It could be so much better. But will it?

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A little girl in my street has a very old pug with severe arthritis. Today I saw her gently strap him into a baby stroller & wait for the postie so they could chase after it, running & laughing as the pup barked like hell. You know, just in case you forgot what love means. 💛

— Alison Nicolson-Rae (@Nicolsonraea) July 4, 2022

Year 3, Day 109: 545 am. Compared to 4:30 am, this doesn’t seem so bad. But it still stinks compared to 6:30 am! I continue to dream. Mostly deliriously as I deal with a very awake very loud Smol.

Week 2 of this cold. The kids’ symptoms are just about resolved this week but true to form, my sore throat has pivoted to get worse. Now it’s got the parched sandy Saharan desert feeling that’s usually how it feels when I start getting sick. Fingers crossed this is the same cold being stubborn and not another variation that’s cropped up.

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I had decided to replace my phone this week because I’m sick of its shenanigans: battery life is dismal, it continues to shut off randomly unrelated to battery and now I get “system UI stopped working” type messages. There was a short window where I could order it and have time to deal with it before the next round of “no time no time no time” but it looks like I’ve missed it. It’ll have to wait til after school starts.

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JB had a surprise reunion with their best friend just after camp and their joy could have fueled a city. It was very cute.

Year 3, Day 110: Smol was up sobbing twice in the night, and in between that, I kept waking up coughing. Terrible sleep. I’m starting to feel doomed on the issue of sleep.

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A dear dear friend’s pet is going through some serious medical stuff right now and I’m on edge for them.

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I’ve been trying to take Smol and Sera out for a walk a few times a week. The fresh air is good for us, in theory, and makes me feel like less of a failure as a parent juggling a toddler at home during my working hours. Usually the walks are torture. I bring along crackers to motivate them a bit but that doesn’t lessen the pain.

Smol makes me chase them to get socks and shoes on and if we make it outside, they won’t walk or they whine or they want to be carried halfway or they want to walk to the park and not come home or or or. It’s miserable, and then we try again anyway because my supply of sanity is depleted anyway.

Today, Smol asked to go out, so I obliged. They were only mildly irritating about their socks and shoes! We went out, and as I locked up, they trot out and down yo stairs on his own and walked out to the sidewalk, then stood there waiting. That’s usually a five minute ordeal alone. When I didn’t do anything but follow, they came back and checked my pockets and signed “eat”. We had to go back inside to retrieve a snack, which was fine, and then we had a nice walk! Just like I had always hoped for! Once they demolished their snack, they moved on to feeding Sera ALL the treats so Sera would follow them everywhere. Their plan worked of course.

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Classic Jorts

No actually I don’t know how I got stuck inside the desk. Next question pic.twitter.com/0sGQDq1DG7
— Jorts (and Jean) (@JortsTheCat) July 6, 2022

Year 3, Day 111: Smol Acrobat made it from 9 pm to 6 am without waking – huge win! Today’s the day I bite the bullet and transition them to a one long nap midday schedule to see if that’s what they have been needing.

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Myself, I still feel physically broken. All the bones in my upper body hurt. Who knows why. Weather changes are all over the place. Sleep is elusive. My anxiety is through the roof about so many things.

Smol’s sleep schedule is still a massive pain in the posterior. We have to cover a full week of JB time without summer camp (maybe I schedule some lessons for them?). We have to travel with the kids (auughhhh who wants to travel with Smol who won’t eat regularly or sleep through the night!). We have to declutter before the start of the school year brings home fresh piles of clutter. We have to prepare for Smol to start daycare after their second vaccine (stresssssss. We need it but also stressssss). We’re living in a horrible moment in US history. My phone wants to die any minute now and I don’t have time to replace it until we get settled into the school year.

Year 3, Day 112: Well. PiC caught the two middle of the night wake ups and I fielded the 6 am wake up. Not the worst but still woof. Still hard.

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I can’t seem to shake this dry hacking cough at night. Mucinex DM helps suppress it a bit but I’d really like it to go away now please and thank you!

Today’s kicking my butt physically. Every major and most minor joints were screaming with pain this morning. The pain was dominant over the fatigue, which is unusual lately, bad enough to induce daylong nausea. Whee. It’s a good thing you don’t use your joints for everything from getting out of bed, brushing teeth, caring for a toddler, or any other daily activities. 😑

I’m grateful that my hands got better after a few hours but everything else got worse so win-lose.

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One good thing to make up for my persistent feeling of failure in teaching Smol Acrobat basic life skills:

They’re finally finally willing to rub their hands together to wash instead of waving them all over the place, splashing, rubbing soap in their hair or eating the soap.

They also seem to be benefiting from the visits to camp. While they still won’t interact in any way with people we are talking to, they were willing to wave goodbye to a few of them this week. That was a big deal!

On the other hand, this was Smol six times a day this week…