To her great delight, Sarah now has a carseat carrier for her baby doll Chester. She loves pretending that she is bringing Chester home from the hospital, to emulate the pictures of when we brought her home from the hospital.
We have been enjoying time at our mountain house where there is more snow than I can fathom. It is at least 3 feet deep in many places. Amy’s snow unicorn has been deemed a snow narwhal because she was frustrated at her inability to form a mane. Carl and I made a snow shark next to the narwhal. Carl has made an incredible snow fort, adding massive snow blocks to the walls each weekend. The walls are as tall as Amy, who is an inch taller than Sarah. Sledding down the driveway was too fast for me, but Carl and Amy had many wonderful races and didn’t mind when they wiped out. I forged a sledding track through snow so deep I had to power through with my arms and the sled filled with snow. It is stunningly beautiful with snow on all of the trees.
While snow is totally beautiful and I’m still not weary of it, I am puzzled/stunned/annoyed by the decision Amy’s school made yesterday to declare a snow day for Monday. *!%#*(T$*(YI*!!!! Monday was to be her first day back in person in over eleven months. She is heartbroken that it is further delayed because she had determined it was going to be the best day of her life. Meanwhile, the forecast is for an inch of snow! And a high of 39! I just don’t understand making the decision so far in advance. I’m sure there are reasons the school could give such as allowing parents to plan for childcare. But how about waiting until Monday morning and then going ahead with school as planned if the weather is actually ok?!
Meanwhile, this past week had other school related drama because Amy’s school suspended a teacher without pay when he questioned the reopening plan and spoke truthfully about how some teachers felt. There was a massive outcry on his behalf from parents and students. This person is an incredible teacher and human being. I have often been impressed when I overhear the videos he makes for his students and I feel better when I hear his reminders that we are each amazing. A petition on his behalf garnered over 800 signatures in a couple of days. Many emails were sent. Amy and I both sent emails. The school reinstated him Friday afternoon, but many feathers were ruffled by this experience. It just felt really yucky. The only way I can make sense of any of this is to remind myself that so many people are scared of doing the wrong thing and making parents mad that sometimes the fear brings decisions that result in the very things feared. I certainly don’t envy the people making decisions about when and how to reopen covid-wise or snow-wise.
The kids have been drawing zoom meetings with attendees from the magical world, animal world, and house world. Amy draws the grids but Sarah can take it from there. Sometimes her handwriting is so clear that I think it is Amy’s! Other times it’s not. For all of the hard moments of sister fights, I love the times when they are peacefully making art together.
Last night they played hospital with Amy as a patient with a sprained ankle and Sarah as the nurse reading Goodnight Moon to her patient. In the morning the nurse was possibly a little overzealous, barging in when the patient was still sleeping. Then again, in real life nurses often do come to check on patients in the middle of the night.
I hope you are all well and feeling peaceful about your own decisions.
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