How Are We Coping? (May 3rd Update)

For this week’s update, I thought I would talk about how each of us is coping with the lockdown.

I am settling in to staying at home fairly well now.  For a few weeks, I was having a lot of trouble relaxing enough to read or watch shows much, but now I am doing both of those things more.  I am working in the mornings and then am on call for the afternoon to enter products if needed.  I make the occasional trip out to the grocery store or pharmacy.  When I can get a grocery delivery or pickup slot, I take it – this has been about every two weeks, so I am trying to order enough food to last that amount of time.  I was doing well at meal planning at the beginning of the lockdown, but it has been getting harder and harder to figure out what to make.

Michael has been experiencing some frustration with online learning.  His laptop keeps crashing, especially the internet browser, and it is really causing some stress.  I don’t think the assignments are too difficult; it mainly seems related to technology issues.  He also misses his social skills group and D&D games, although he is still seeing his dad at the usual times.

Joe doesn’t seem too bothered by the whole situation.  He still goes to work as normal, although there are extra safety measures in place there, such as temperature checks, wearing gloves and masks, and additional cleaning routines.  In the evenings, he plays his online PC video games and watches a little YouTube.

Baxter is definitely missing his trips to the dog park.  He whines to go out a lot more and is begging a lot at mealtime.  He also gets overexcited sometimes when he is playing and has a hard time settling down.  Joe has been taking him on walks after work, and I have been occasionally taking him to an open park in another township that has a fenced in tennis court where he can run for a while.  It’s not the same as getting to run and play with other dogs, though.

Peanut Butter seems pretty much the same.  The dog is bothering him a bit more than usual, but he mostly hangs out in our bedroom or up on the cat tree, so life is fairly normal for him.

So that’s the update for this week.  How are you doing with everything?