My goodness, what a latter half of August it's been here. Goes to show you can be locked away from the world and still somehow be darned busy.
So where were we? The kid/bunny embraced fiveness.
We celebrated by going to the beach...
She had a zoom birthday party which turned out well, but definitely was not the same as in in person children's party. In person children's birthday parties are THE BEST for the parents attending. The kids amuse themselves. There's cake and ice cream.. and usually beer. And the parents can drift away and bond over the trauma and joy of having a strange tiny human. This isn't possible in zoom. At least not in my experience. Mostly parents just try to keep their children from wandering off and/or spontaneously melting down and otherwise can smile politely at the edge of the screen or wander off and enjoy some beer all to themselves.
Also, I know "breakout rooms" exist, but the natural flow of a few conversationalists to a few others - and that fluid slipping in and out of mini-conversations is much harder to orchestrate.
Other downside of zoom: you can't ghost. I mean I guess you could just close your window and be gone. But the whole "slipping away" element is not present. So kids leave, Allan screams WHY ARE YOU GOING??? IT'S MY PARTY! MOMMY WHY ARE THEY GOING??? And eventually plenty of awkward conversations later, the parents figure out once again how to exit the chat.
But in a pinch...
Speaking of zoom...
Allan also really enjoys the small interactions in her online preschool. She adores the teacher and sometimes gets very talkative these days. More than she does in person or when the zoom is a larger group of kids. Like the time she told everyone about Finding Nemo. Or the other time she just started regaling the class with stories about Brother Bunny and a witch (also Brother Bunny used to be a grown up but then he "got dead" and was reborn and was one and two and three and four and five and six...) while the teacher who was supposed to be leading the class struggled with zoom and the teacher who was sick and wasn't supposed to be leading anything eventually came on to fill in.
We've also found another teacher - Miss Joice on Outschool, who is pretty awesome. Just like her very first wonderful preschool leader, Teacher Maura, theater people just click with Allan's style. First class yesterday was a Princess Compare and Contrast class. Which was interesting because it focused on the Disney princesses and Allan's seen none of those movies to my knowledge. But somehow she knew to answer that Belle loves reading and now she's obsessed with Frozen without ever having seen it. And there was plenty of drawing and dancing and talking. We came back for a unicorn class, which was a bit more fraught because Allan was generally in a bad mood and there was drawing involved. Allan is an artiste and she gets flipping frustrated when she doesn't create just to her impulses. There was crying and howling and misery and - two seconds later - smiles and giddy laughs. Her unicorn was pretty cool.
In other news, I also had a birthday.
I celebrated by taking Allan to the pediatrician, and later trying to explain to sobbing five year old that I actually didn't want to spend my birthday afternoon making myself a cake with ingredients we didn't yet have. We compromised and I requested cupcakes from my mom the next day. Happy birthday to me(ish).
We are now getting ready to load up the car and travel down to a giant lodge in Oregon between Crater Lake and Klamath Lake to meet with Andrew's family. This is particularly relevant because with the recent California apocalypse, the air quality became pretty disgusting earlier this week and the difference between Klamath Lake and Crater Lake has been pretty huge. Crater Lake is like "hey we're a little sooty here, maybe take it easy on the marathon training and just do a chilll bike ride if you have asthma." Klamath Lake be like "you got an oxygen mask?" And of course the Lodge itself doesn't have a an air quality, reader, so you just kind of have to guess which it's closer to.
Since I am obscenely sensitive to smoke and don't fancy a return to the Emergency Room, Klamath Lakes unhealthy status concerned me a bit. I was reassured by several healthy hale people who could go out running in hazardous conditions (or at the very least find a wood burning stove pleasant instead of a smoky burny skin and eye igniter) that everything was fine, but at this point I am a little more comfortable with actual readings that correlate to symptoms I've personally experienced. And Monday...
There was an obstreperous little spot of RED (which is "unhealthy" which means for most people "don't go out hiking" but for me means "your eyes and skin will burn like salt has been rubbed into open wounds, your heart will start pounding, your lungs will ache, and you'll probably have a hard time keeping liquids down until you're officially dehydrated and then... more fun!)
I actually don't enjoy being this hypersensitive all the time. I really should have been born in the fairytale ages in which excess delicacy was considered somehow charming in a princess. But I'd probably have just died in childbirth at age 17 or been baked into a pie. Those stories are a bit gruesome usually. So I'll just be a PITA who spoils everyone else's fun.
Fortunately the winds seem to have shifted and everything is now yellow. Yellow isn't beautiful fresh mountain air. But it isn't usually a trip to the ER, so wheeeeee. Fun drama
We also got to get ourselves official covid-19 tests in anticiption of the travel. I just got mine yesterday so likely results won't be back in time to determine the course of our trip, but we can hope. It was very efficient. Pretty easy. I'm impressed. Also, since Allan was having a wall to wall day of simultaneous cling wrap behavior and outright hysteria (we have got to stop telling her about trips in advance), the hour it took to drive to the testing station, fill out some forms, be swabbed for plague, and drive back was the most restful period of my day right until Allan finally gave up her bedtime retalliation strike for my failure to allow her to do a craft before bedtime. Only took two hourrs!
But speaking of me being over-delicate and extra planning for trips...
Still allergic to some things. And still breaking out and itchy at random intervals. Of course the day before our trip I seem to be clearing up a fair bit from what I can assume was the pediatrician's cleaning death march or maybe some stray perfume that stowed away on somebody's clothes.
Trips can be dicy. Because the environment is new and there are many unknowns. There's whatever chemicals are left over in the car (like say the sealant on the the new windshield that we did air out, but still could have settled in strange places that will only be stirred up by the hvac). There's a new places that's likely been cleaned with chemicals that are still on surfaces. There are linens and towels (and curtains and carpets) that have been washed in potentially problematic cleaners. Metal surfaces that might have nickel. Water that might be high in nickel from the pipes or other source. And tons more unkowns that may or may not be problematic. Because I don't fully know what I'm reacting to, it can be hard to know how sensitive I am to much of anything and which potential problems are real problems. So this will be a learning experience!
Trip aside, it's a convenient time to come down with some intense allergies in some ways. In others ways it's a terrible time.
In the pro column:
*Social distancing! With anything perfumed, those little perfume molecules actually can travel through the air and land on other people's skin. If I physically touch somebody else, then we get into hair products,shaving cream, laundry detergent, soap, the ink they've covered their face and arms with for kicks...
At this point I have to wonder I will only ever stop rashing up if I live in my ivory tower of perfectly certified objects and only allow people to approach me after ritual bathing in Dr. Brommer's and purified water, and then donning robes washed in baking soda with extra vinegar in the rinse cycle... Why am I not a priestess or something?
Avoiding contact with people other than my couple of household people simplifies things a lot in this interim..
And staying home more means avoiding new booby trapped environments. I think when Allan does go back to school, I'll be looking into remote work a lot more seriously. Though I did just read that allergies are covered by the ADA and reasonable accomodations can be requested if you survive the interview process. Still. Remote working is the new awesome, so zoom me up!
* Ventilation! Same reason. Clears out the cleaning solutions and perfumes and paint fumes and whatever else. Too bad that's not being taken quite as seriously as spraying down every surface with MCI laced bleach, but we'll get there.
* Masks and gloves are common! Not that masks really help with contact allergies per se, but a little less exposed skin. And gloves are always helpful for avoiding unwitting contact.
In the anti column:
CLEANING SOLUTION SPRAYING EVERYWHERE ALL THE FUCKING TIME AND ANYTHING YOU TOUCH IS DRIPPING WITH SOME TOXIC SANITIZER COVERED IN PERFUMES AND IT'S FLOATING THROUGH THE AIR!!!
I feel like I'm being rash spray gassed every time I walk in a public building.
So many trade offs and strategic decisions these days.
I'm weighing getting my permanent retainer out, which would be good because it's a constant source of nickel contact, but which would require sitting in a cleaner-soaked orthodontic office for an hour and change while being poked with metal implements.. Just going to my dermtologist to ask about a rash bring the likelihood of exacerbating it on elevator ride up. So something to think about.
Otherwise, life is fun. I've got a mini script/form letter to use with manufacturers and healthcare professionals. Just finished writing my doctor asking several detailed questions about my upcoming gynecological exam and offering to bring my own lubricant. See: fun??
No for real.
Andrew got me a professional mike for my birthday and the went on quests to get everything set up so it works. I got my book. I got my computer. I got ... an adorable child who no longer naps and has suddenly decided I need to watch all her shows and movies with her AND play kindle with her. So I haven't gotten to delve into those as much, but someday!!! Some day!
And in the meantime, we have a craft kit to go through.
Packing?? What?? I'm sure we can do that soon.
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