Today was a banner day.
One more piece of our “normal,” pre-pandemic routine was restored to us—albeit, with a new look and feel.
Extracurricular activities! Here we go, again.
And, boy, do I have mixed emotions.
First off, let me acknowledge that, as a busy parent of three young kiddos, I felt a great mix of relief and freedom and peace from removing all the “extras” while it was necessary to quarantine last year and drastically change our behaviors—and I know I’m not alone in this.
There was something so glorious about removing everything unnecessary and just getting back to the basics of health and simple joys, and family, family, family time.
Not worrying about scheduling playdates or attending social functions or shuttling kiddos to extra activities and lessons, or filling up our weekends with events and errands away from home, or being in-person in the classroom for room representative duties was like taking a giant breath and just...absolving myself from a lot of responsibility and guilt for anything I was unable to commit to or accomplish.
Truly a once-in-a-lifetime perspective check, and a gift to spend so much time cocooned with my hubby and babies—as so many families the world over also discovered. If only it didn’t come at such a great global cost.
But slowly, surely, as we’ve learned to adapt behaviors and test our own personal comfort zone limits, we’ve all had to make decisions for ourselves and our households about how to continue to live and thrive in this strange new normal of ours.
For us, as a family, sending the kiddos back to in-person school in late October was a big deal. It made me feel so vulnerable as a household and brought a lot of anxiety with it. Especially since the timing coincided with a major increase in positive cases across the country.
But. Our path to sending the kiddos back to their school buildings happened so organically that I ultimately made peace with it being the right decision for us at the time, for a myriad of reasons. And that hold true, today. Especially since our school district is doing such a stellar job.
But as soon as we ripped off that bandage and opened ourselves up to the outside world a bit again, I knew other dominoes would eventually fall. And the second major wave of change would be bringing back select extra-curricular activities in a way that made us feel safe.
Again, it’s all happened so organically, that I have to try and make peace with it all.
As you might recall from a previous post, my girlies recently voiced a desire to be back in dance class, and I was so thrilled with their interest—coming completely from their little minds and hearts and not mine—that I felt obliged to accommodate their requests.
Fortunately, their dance studio has implemented wonderful protocols of temperature checks, hand-sanitizer at the door, and no adults or non-dancers in the building during classes, which helps ease my anxiety.
But does it feel a bit stark to just drop them off with a wave and peace out?
Yup.
Is it strange to have it all be so detached and distanced, without the ability to watch them in class, as I have for the past five years??
Yup.
But do I know it’s the right thing to try and give them a bit of their normalcy while keeping them safe in a happy, dancing environment..
And just as the no-contact drop-offs at Little Man’s preschool, and the inability to visit for lunch or volunteer at the girlies’ school took some time getting used to, this shall, as well. But I know it will become part of our “new normal” before we know it.
Chicklet, especially, was counting down the sleeps until today, and really joyful about getting suited up in her leotard in the car after school. It’s a feeling I hope remains, as they’ve sometimes in the past been a little grumpy about going straight from school to dance class when they’re a little tired and overstimulated.
But the smiles were a-plenty, Chica said it felt like it was only twenty minutes (“I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun), and I hope they continue for many (healthy!) weeks to go.
Now for my Little Man...this return to select extra-curricular activities marks a really fun milestone for him, as well, as he gets to start his very first round of soccer lessons! And, again, it all happened so organically.
The same week the girlies’ asked to return to dance, a flyer came home from school with Little Man, advertising a popular program down here in the San Antonio/Austin area that involves soccer classes being run out of preschools so the kiddos can just transition directly from the end of their school day to a little half-hour “lesson” on site before their parents pick them up. No muss, no fuss; easy breezy.
Better still, one of the options was a Thursday class, which is also the girlies’ dance day, so we just get to handle it all in one busy afternoon, and then call it a day!
He was so, dang pumped about his soccer day that he also counted the sleeps!
And then I had a Mama fail when I got him to school and discovered soccer doesn’t start until next Thursday, haha
Luckily, I was absolved of my mistake when Little Man learned that I’d made parking-lot contact with the mom of his best little friend at school (let’s call him R), and brought the soccer program to her attention (the flyer hadn’t made it home for them, ha). And she promptly got R signed up, too. So my Mama stalking skills worked. ;) So even though I can’t really give Little Man play dates, yet, I can give him fun soccer time with his friend, R.
Win/win!
So. In summary...the world is still very much not normal and there’s still so much to be done to protect one another right now and keep us all as healthy as possible.
But there is also light at the end of the tunnel, and small steps all the time of bringing back a bit of normalcy—or new normalcy—to our lives. And I’m grateful for every bit of it. Growing/changing pains and all!
Happy Almost Friday, peeps!
Over and out.
P.S. A little addition to this post a couple hours later...the hubby is fired from Daddy duties, ha. Because he’s still working from home, and Little Man didn’t have soccer yet, I was able to drop my boy off at home after school so he didn’t have to sit in the car for the girlies’ lengthy school pickup and subsequent dance class hoopla. I came home two hours later to my Little Man glassy eyed, hyped up like a frat boy, red cheeked, sweat at his temples, dehydrated from not one sip of water, and...totally living his best life after playing two solid hours of video games. As Daddy allowed. Little Man was HAPPY. Ha. But let’s not make it a routine thing. ;)
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