Day 10 + 11: In It to Win It

I missed a day. Buckle up, a lot has happened.

First, I missed posting last night because S had a fever at bedtime. I did my typical spiral of worry and doctor google and more worrying, and was generally just kind of a mess until I managed to get to sleep. S woke us up about 3am, saying his head hurt and still feeling really hot, and he and I never quite got back to sleep.

First, the good things that happened yesterday!

Brother in law went to the co-op! He found garlic, YAY!

 And he got my the only flour they had left, a 50 pound bag.  Am I officially a hoarder?

But part of the reason I needed flour was because my super awesome friend stopped by today with a dozen eggs from her chicken and her sourdough starter!

So now, to officially alleviate my hoarder status, I need to start making bread at least once a week!  Today I finished one bag of flour, making bagels and pie crust for our quiche, so I am on my way!

One more thing from yesterday, a local komboucha brewery (brewery?) started turning their extra alcohol into hand sanitizer! So we scored some free sanitizer!

The things we get excited for during a pandemic: garlic and sanitizer! Lastly, yesterday was Mike's last day of work. He brought home a bunch of office stuff  (including a desk and chair, so I don't have to sit on the floor anymore!) and now we have a real home office!

We had a pretty good day, and even managed to get through some school work, but then the fever happened, and worry and anxiety took over. 

He woke up still feverish, and I called the doctor. I remembered that a few days ago he did have some funky looking ear drainage, so I was hoping maybe it was an ear infection. His head hurts, his throat hurts. He spent all morning on the couch not eating while I tried to get through some work with M. E said she was tired and went back up to her bed and played by herself until like 10:30! So M and I had some good 1-1 academic time. 

Around noon I talked to the doctor. He thinks S probably has the same cold E and I had last week, but to me it seems like something much worse. We are going to monitor until tomorrow, and ear seems worse we will do a car-side visit to exam his ear, and if ear seems fine, we may assume he has Covid. But the frustrating thing is, with all the shortages of tests, he said even if S starts coughing and doctor feels he may have Covid, he won't recommend him for testing because he is low risk.  So we may never know if we've have it, which is super frustrating. We will see how he is feeling tomorrow and go from there. For now he isn't really coughing much, so I am still hopeful it could be an ear infection (or at least telling myself this to keep from freaking out for now!).  

On the work front, I managed to look at student work, proofread some essays, and plan out my assignments for next week for French 2 and DP (11/12th grade) French. Tomorrow I will tackle AP and French 1. Even though the economic aspect of Mike not working is terrifying, it was nice to have him hear to help juggle kids and work.

More big news: US now has the most cases in the world. I can't believe we are here, and how fast it is happened. I still feel in a sort of shock that this is even happening. 

Speaking of shock, more big news: We found out over dinner that school will be closed for the rest of the academic year. The.Rest.Of.The.Year. We are in it to win it, folks. I still haven't quite processed it all. In general, I just feel really sad. Especially sad for my seniors who I won't get to teach again, who I thought I still had so much time left with! Not to mention the super awesome and fun ultimate frisbee team I coach at the high school! Sad for S, who was having such an amazing year of Kindergarten, and was just getting the hang of reading. Sad for our whole community, for everything our schools represent, and create, and nurture.  

Educators have a lot of work to figure out how to deliver equitable education from a distance, especially for students who are differently-abled or have other challenges at home.  And parents have a lot of work to figure out how to manage this home school thing without going insane. As an educator and a parent, I am not sure which feels more daunting. 

But onward to tomorrow. Taking things day by day. Everyday seems so long, but also flashes by in a blur of information overload. Last week feels like a lifetime ago. Students sitting in my classroom asking, "Will they cancel our field trip? Do you think they will cancel school?" feels like an eternity ago. Hoping Sam gets better, hoping we slow the spread, hoping my students are ok, hoping we get some school work done tomorrow, hoping for a day without big news.

US Cases: 82,400

Vermont Cases: 158