Quarantine Journals - Tears Come Eventually

We had a good morning. Spent most of it outside planting seeds, but Oliver was hysterical for Richard and he couldn't get much work done. We started feeding him and he started calming down. He seems to be starving all the time lately. Not great for a pandemic, really. 

We planted trays of seeds that Penny had picked out. Checked on the other trays and they were starting to mold. I cleaned them up and left the lids off this time. The kids played in the rice bin and Penny chilled in her pod for a bit before it started raining. 

We went inside for a "what's expiring in the fridge" lunch, and then I took Oliver for a nap. He crashed immediately (finally), and slept for 3 hours. But when we got up, things were tricky for Penny.  She wanted to play video games with me, but I told her not right now and we proceeded to discuss buying another aerogarden and possibly some seeds. After nearly an hour, we had planned out our seeds and pods and ordered, but Penny had been losing it for half an hour. Sobbing, hysterical, couldn't reel it in. 

It was hard to stop the tears once they started.  Some quick thinking helped when nothing else would.  A quick, sloppy menu gave the kids the fun of choosing their meal (leftovers night) and let us pretend we were eating out.  

Penny asked how she would pay for the meal, and we discussed payment methods.  She choose dancing, and we worked on the receipt together. I set the prices, she did the math, and the after dinner dance party was spectacular.  Oliver rushed out of his seat to pay for his meal as well. Everyone was laughing; mood reset; evening rescued; high fives for everyone. 

Sharing in this idea helps anyone else pivot out of the stay-at-home-blues.  There was no time to make it perfect, and that's okay. Some days, this is crisis parenting.  Next time, I can plan ahead and make it fancier.  

(Oliver didn't quite get the "choose one for each page" idea, but he's actively trying to eat the entire house anyway.)

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