New Routines

Trying to establish a new routine is hard. It's extra hard when you're trying to balance two full time jobs, a toddler, and a dog all in one place.

Being a mom? Easy.
Being a teacher? Easy.
Being a mom and a teacher at exactly the same time while the dog is barking and the husband is on a conference call and the dishwasher is beeping and somewhere in the house water is running? Actually impossible.

So day 2 of life at home has been a challenge.

We made it until 10:00 before we signed up for Disney+ and parked the baby (actually toddler but I'm not quite ready to use that word) in front of the TV to watch Ice Age and eat her Cheerios. It's hard to figure out what sacrifices to make right now but giving in on the limited screen time rule while we sort out our new routine seemed like an okay place to bend.

As far as the working part of working from home is concerned today has actually been surprisingly productive, all things considered. I attended a staff meeting online this morning. It wasn't exactly perfect but direct access to information eases all of my nerves these days so I was grateful for the opportunity to tune in from home. I've filled the rest of my time with online collaboration with my teams and marking work by my students - so that feels normal for a Thursday.

For how distracting they can be, my new co-workers are very cute. I'm trying to focus on the positives so one thing that I am really enjoying is getting to spend more time with our first born, Juno.
She is definitely a fan of this new set-up as she usually has nobody to scratch her ears during the day.

If I look beyond my own little box it's been a busy day for the world.

Italy has surpassed China's death count - this is scary to me and I feel for all Italians right now. I'm hopeful that we've heeded their warnings and Canada will come through by learning from the experience of others.

China has finally had a day where no new local infections were reported. This is huge news in understanding the trajectory of infection and strategies for containment.

Canada and the US have announced that the border will be closed, likely this weekend, to all non-essential travel. This is one of those measures that seems big and scary but actually gives me hope that we are doing all we can to contain the virus.

Here's something that made me laugh today:


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