At this point, today April 20 - which is Patriot's Day in Massachusetts and the day of the Red Sox home opener, the Boston Marathon - both of which are canceled/postponed and we have had 1809 deaths as a result of the Coronavirus and there are 39,643 documented cases in our state.
We learned this week that schools here in Massachusetts will be closed for the rest of the school year. Ally was pretty upset about this, but does understand why. Currently all non-essential businesses are closed thru May 4. We believe that will be extended until mid-May, but continue to hope Ally’s gym will open up soon.
I told Ally at the beginning of the Corona-scare back in early March that I felt we would all get the virus eventually. I just do not think it is possible to quarantine ourselves away until the virus is eradicated or they create a vaccine. To me its about how long can we prevent so many of us from getting it so that our health care system can take care of us when we get sick. "Flatten the Curve".
In retrospect I think Ally herself had the Cornavirus. She was sick for weeks the end of January into mid February. She was sick the entire time we were in Arizona, and missed her February gymnastics meet because she was too weak and tired to be able to safely compete her skills. I did take her to the doctor on February 20 because she had been so sick for so long. It was a head and chest cold the worst she had ever had and it was going on for 3 weeks. The doctor said it was "just a cold". This was before we knew that Covid-19 was probably in the USA and back then no one here was testing for it or even thought much about it. But Ally's symptoms while not common, are not uncommon for the virus and it tends to affect children and young people differently than adults. I got sick soon after Ally, not for as long as she did, but it was a bad cold with symptoms not as typical as I usually get a cold. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I can't wait for the antibody test to see if in fact Ally and I did have Covid-19 and now have some immunity to it.
But until we have more and better testing available we will not know.
Meanwhile we keep going. Week six of stay at home in pictures below.
Sunday Becky and Ally worked on teaching Daisy how to ring the bell.
Later that day Ally and I tried out watercolor painting
Mine is the top picture and Ally’s is below.
Another week, another outfit for Cloey.
In her element with both of her pets!
Tuesday Becky used her sourdough starter to make overnight waffle batter. But then in the morning she found out our waffle maker was broken and so she had to make sourdough pancakes. They were delicious.
On Wednesday we made our first family outing in 6 weeks. All of us went to see Aunt Beth.
We stayed outside the whole time on her patio.
You can see how Ally feels about face masks. That is hers on the ground.
Beth and Becky, sisters hamming it up. Even during a socially distancing visit during a pandemic they bring humor to the situation.
After the visit to Beth we drove over to one of Ally’s teammates houses for a quick visit.
Katherine and Ally
Getting ready for handstands.
On the way home we stopped at Shake Shack for a curbside pick up. Fries and milkshakes make everything better.
Another puzzle down. This one was difficult and not much fun. Becky did most of this one.
What is Spring Break without a little travel? This is our first April in years we didn’t make plans to travel. Seems pretty fortuitous now.
So Thursday Ally and I took a short day trip to visit her friend Daniela. Daniela and her mom and sisters are staying at their grandmother’s house in Mattapoisett, about an hour away on the coast.
We took Cloey with us.
It was a chilly but sunny day.
Daniela’s mom and sisters LOVE Cloey.
Handstand on the beach!
Cloey loved it.
A rare picture of me.
Ally was so glad we went. I was too.
We walked for about an hour and half on the beach and then had lunch outside in their yard. We all kept our distance and were outside the entire time.
In the car on the way home Ally and I talked about how this was a risk to see people. But the risk was small and sometimes risks are worth it. She agreed.
Friday was another puzzle session. This time Ally and I completed a 750 piece puzzle.
But first Ally wanted to roll up the Puffin puzzle Becky finished earlier in the week.
My job was to sort the pieces.
Ally assembled the puzzle.
We did it! We figure it took us about 4 1/2 hours to complete it. We worked together the whole time and took a break for dinner.
Saturday started with a neighborhood celebration of I the Italian Liberation from the fascist regime. All of Italy will be singing Oh Bella Ciao from their porches, and our Italian neighbor organized a group performance. This is our first April 25 in this house (since we were stuck in Florida last year) and it was a fun thing to participate in. People played instruments and sang. Really lovely especially during this time of social distancing.
Later Saturday morning Becky brought Ally to a “tumble-date” with 2 of Ally's gymnastics teammates.
Mari hosted because she has a huge backyard with a 17’ trampoline. Eliana was there too.
That is a photo sequence of Ally’s favorite skill right now, it’s a Full. Which is a full twisting back flip. Her body twists a full 360 degrees in the air. Crazy if you ask me.
Back layout step out two in a row I think. But I don’t know all the skills.
Snacks together after the tumble session. We all agreed as parents that the risk to the girls was minimal. They have all had zero contact for 4+ weeks now and they were outside and for the most part kept their distance. Mari’s mom is a doctor ans is currently leading the Covid-19 research task force at one of our local hospitals and Eliana’s mom is a child psychiatrist working remotely during this time. If two doctors were ok with this, we are too. Risk vs reward.
Ally was so happy when she got home and Cloey gave her some love.
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