Quarantine Chronicles: Kyle's milestones

We thought we'd document what the kids did while we were quarantine because of COVID-19 for 2 1/2 months. This is Kyle's version and the milestones and the habits that he gained during this time.

He said several new words to add to his favorite: dog. He says a form of Grandma and Grandpa, bird, bubbles, snack and ball.

He has really long hair as we delayed his first hair cut!

And he was still taking a bottle in the morning and at night until halfway through the quarantine and in early May (he was almost 16 months old!), we transitioned to a sippy cup. He's had no problem with that change. But he did decide that a pacifier would be a fun new habit, and it's probably because he got 4 new teeth in the first month we were staying at home.

Of course time at home wouldn't be complete without a trip to the doctor for an ear infection. Hoping we can reschedule the ENT consult for tubes since that was cancelled during this time too.

And his other big milestone is eating with a spoon!

Cecilia's 4 year old checkup

Cecilia was a rockstar at her 4 year old check up. She didn't even flinch when she got two shots. She was excited to wear her mask as we haven't brought her anywhere where she's needed to wear it yet.

Here are her stats:

Height: 41.93 inches (87%)
Weight: 36.6 lbs (61%)

Maeve's final weeks of Kindergarten

It was a week filled with emotion as we finished out the year at home e-learning. Maeve was very sad to be done with Kindergarten. We were disappointed too as she was having a such a wonderful year and she didn't get the kind of closure that we expected.

She did great e-learning, however, and loved reading, science and math homework. The teachers and staff really did a nice job in coming up with creative ways to keep the kids engaged. She had an end-of-the-year nursery rhyme skit (There was an Old Woman who lived in a Shoe) that we did virtually and a video that her teacher put together that we all got to watch. She also made a COVID-19 time capsule, research and wrote a book report on horses, and had a drive by for teacher appreciation week where they made signs and waved to her teacher.

After her last day we headed up to the cabin (which has been a good distraction to the end of the school year and gave us something to look forward to that seemed to be more normal than the last few months). She's also looking forward to summer camp at OLG so hoping to see some friends again soon.

We're so proud of her accomplishments this year as she met new friends, learned to read, loved learning math and playing at recess.

Kyle 15 month check up

Doctor experience:

• We received a confirmation e-mail and talked with scheduling the week prior to cancel Cecilia's appointment given she is >2 years old and they are only seeing patients <2 during COVID-19.  We thought for sure we were on as scheduled.  WRONG!  2nd time in as many weeks! (1st was his canceled ENT appointment). Turns out one of the other doctors we enjoy seeing was working and she had availability, but it was going to require me coming back in 1 hour.  What a hassle and despite me pleading my case, they said this was all they could do.  So I loaded Kyle back in the truck and started to head home.  I wasn't even out of the parking lot yet and they called me and suggested they could get me in right then.  Phew, what a relief!!
• Prior to even being admitted into the building, we had to pass a pre-screening in the entryway to ensure we were all healthy and hadn't traveled outside of MN.  You will notice the sweet picture of me supporting my Buff during the appointment.
• His checkup went great!  No ear infection (we've noticed he's been healthier since being out of daycare for 2.5+ weeks now) and he got his 2 required shots.

Other milestones:

• Walking all the time now
• Saying 'Dog,' 'Ball,' 'Snack', and mama and dad still
• Trying to push some more teeth through (still only has 4) so now has taken a liking to his pacifier again
• crawling down all the stairs - he even opened the door to the basement one time and started crawling down - so we need to watch him all the time
• growing out his hair (not by choice but may see if we can get a man bun :) )

15 month stats:

• height: 32.76 inches (95%)
• weight: 24.74 lbs (79%)
• head size: 18.7 inches (71%)

Cecilia is 4

Cecilia enjoyed her birthday during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was hard to work from home today and be the birthday activity director, Kindergarten teacher, and daycare teacher, as well as the baker and the cook and dish washer. We're exhausted!

Here are the highlights of today:

• Grandpa Steve made a sign that said 'honk' for Cecilia's birthday
• Sitting by the door was more fun this morning than the new bounce house we got for the backyard but by the afternoon they were really enjoying it. We wanted to make up for her birthday party that won't be happening this weekend.
• The fire truck stopped by to wish Cecilia a Happy Birthday!
• We had a scavenger hunt in the house for the birthday presents. The scavenger hunt took us to the garage where she found her new bike. Then we got to get in the car and continue to find presents on the doorsteps of Aunt Laura and Uncle Jon's house, Aunt Morgan and Uncle Scott's house, and Grandma Jan and Grandpa Steve's house. Wow - that was a whirlwind but so so much fun! Thank you for all of our generous and creative family members
• We had a zoom call with Grandma Brigid, Grandpa Ed, Aunt Anne, Uncle Sean, Finn and Ben - what fun!
• Some friends and family honked, stopped by, and said hi from several feet away. With so many neighbors walking about, we got so many birthday wishes. We also FaceTimed with more family and Cecilia felt so much love!
• We baked a cake and decorated the house. We originally bought them to bring to FL but brought the beach party here and enjoyed the 60 degree weather.
• We made lasagna at Cecilia's request and the whole family loved it. Kyle had seconds!

Thank you again for all the good wishes!