Welcome to Episode 3, Little Monster, 

This week was fairly routine – one difference was a big standoff mid-week when the words “I’ll kill you, Mommy,” came out of your mouth. Fortunately, you were both cuddling thirty minutes later, but it was tense. Hard to imagine that just days before you had gone all out to make Mother’s Day 2020 special for Mommy 🙂

The latest 1 Second Everyday Video:

It’s mid-month for us, so I don’t have a new 1SE video, but here’s a project I’ve wanted to do for several years. I saw the men outside my school in Santo Domingo cut a pineapple in this curious way, so I wanted to share it. 

In the filming of it, I asked Alexandra to do a backup video in case something happened to the phone you were holding to film. It didn’t happen, you were a rockstar filmer, keeping it steady and adding priceless color commentary. I was so pleased. 

What you’re doing these days:

You and I are learning chess together, kinda. I bought Storytime Chess, a product that comes with a kid-friendly story for each character that enables one to learn how the pieces move. You are really into the stories – we’ve read the book several times – but you’re not into the game yet. I’ll try to be patient. 

We’ve also started two new card games – Crazy 8s and Cheat, both of which give us some good together time

A recording

You and I took the yuba bike to school to pick up some items. I got you to come along because you knew you could get some Milk Duds from Robyn’s desk next to mine. This is me pedaling you’re 50 lb mass up Phinney Ridge!

In my life these days:

We’ve been doing Zoom classes for nearly ten weeks now – sadly, I haven’t worn my backpack or long pants for that long. 

I’ve been making the running workout for my ultimate team since we haven’t been able to get together for practices for 10 weeks. Yesterday you filmed me making this video. 

In the news:

We have had some creative developments since the shelter-in-place order. Once a week, there’s a bagpiper who strolls along our streets and belts out with his pipes. The Seattle Quarantine Parade is a truck that rolls through the streets hissing smoke and sending dance tunes to the neighborhoods – you and I were lucky enough to see it go past the park when we were flying a kite, so we followed it on the bike for a while.  Then there’s The Seattle Pandemic Opera Singer. When I was out juggling one afternoon, I struck up a conversation with a couple pushing a stroller – I found out that this guy was a bike ride away. You, me, and Mommy biked over on May Day to see him. This was the first time we’d been around that many people, so it was a little freaky – not everyone was staying the appropriate distance away. But we stayed long enough to experience him do this piece from Turandot. 

As of now, more than 1 million people have been tested positive for the Coronavirus in the US and over 78,000 people have died. Our country hasn’t come together to defeat the spread as a team. I feel for those who have lost jobs and loved ones 🙁 Here’s hoping our return to normal can be safe and swift. 

A summary of a book or podcast I liked:

I’m almost done listening to A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Count Alexander Rostov is condemned to house arrest in a posh Moscow hotel for the rest of his life. I enjoyed the characters and learning how the count mastered his reality for decades. I listened to it in double time during dog walks and indoor bike rides so it went fast. 

I’ll put more news on the virus in next episode, my dear. Until next time, love, Daddy