As I wrote last month, March began as it usually does for us with all the excitement of the Marathon. We then went to California for Little Buddy's clinical trial screening and came home ready for Spring Break. We were hearing more about COVID-19 and how things were shutting down to lessen exposure. Back in those early days of innocence, I thought a trip to the zoo would be fine. An outdoor outing where we just wouldn't touch anything and be rigorous with hand washing, that would be fine! We did have a great day but the next day the zoo shut down and we learned more about the airborne nature of the virus. And so the isolation began...
Our last real outing before pandemic lockdown hit. I am glad we had a great day and got to see the dragon exhibit!
Little Buddy has a terminal illness. He doesn't win in a triage scenario. So we have battened down the hatches and are working to keep him safe as we have no idea how his body would react to the virus.
Schools are cancelled. Almost everything is closed down. And we are taking everything a day at a time.
Enjoying walking the Spring Creek trails, somewhere we always meant to try, before the parks got closed down.
With schools and most offices closed, the kids have been doing remote learning with Momma and Daddy as the kindergarten and developmental teachers. Daddy has also been trying to work remotely while managing the bulk of Little Buddy's schooling. It's not a reality we ever expected, but here we are.
Lots of learning happening in our new homebound academy!
With the monotony of not being able to go anywhere or really do anything, we've been lucky our backyard is as big as park!
Overall, our days have stayed pretty structured. The routine is helpful for all of us. Grown-up get up around 6 AM (Daddy is usually earlier; Momma is usually later, lol). We get the kids up by 7:30 AM most days. We try to have school start with Little Sweetie's video morning announcements at 8:30. We work on school stuff for about an hour and then take the dogs on a walk and go on a bike ride. Snack time is next and then we hit more school stuff until lunch. After lunch is recess and PE and then normally Little Sister wants to "come home" from school where she watches a Scooby-Doo and then does her "homework." Little Buddy still has some medically necessary therapy come to break up his day too. Overall, it's going about as well as it could, so for that we're thankful!
We've also been able to have fun and celebrate while living in isolation. So many spring holidays and events that we don't want to miss out on!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Can't miss out on annual Texas bluebonnet pictures!
Decorating our eggs for Easter!
Height and Weight
Staying consistent at 89 pounds and thisclose to 57 inches!
Our favorite boy!
Personality
Thankfully, Little Buddy is as happy as he can be at home with all of us at home with him all of the time. Lots of love, attention, and routine complete his love language.
Happiest of kids!
Developmental Changes
We had a bit of a scare this month when he started toe walking again! We were concerned that meant his Achilles were tightening up, which could impact his mobility. After a few days of fretting, we noticed that it seemed to really be his left foot having the problem. Upon closer inspection, we found the culprit. It wasn't his tendon, it was a sneaky case of athletes foot on his left toes! While this was relieving, it also was a bit of a challenge to treat as Little Buddy doesn't like to stay off his feet and constant movement is kind of his MO. We had to resort to putting knee braces on a few times a day, putting on some cream, and making him sit to help him heal. In a related note, fungus that causes athletes foot also gave him a case of ringworm on his bum. Ay yi yi! Thankfully we were able to get everything cleared up!
Forcing him to be still and watch TV to let his foot air out.
Extra stretching so his left foot toe walking didn't tighten up his right side and throw his hips out of whack.
Obviously he hasn't been impacted too much as his daily step count keeps looking like this. No wonder we are so tired in the evenings!
Fun Tidbits
We've been able to break up the monotony of the days with some fun diversions. First up would be pandemic haircuts. We figured now was the time to let Little Buddy experiment with some cool hair since no one would see it if we messed it up!
Hey cool dude!
Therapeutic horse riding may be canceled, but the Ranch organized this wonderful drive-thru tour so riders could see the horses still. Little Buddy was so happy to see Roany!
And if living in isolation during a pandemic wasn't fun enough, severe storms decided that we should try it without power for awhile. Yikes! Thankfully, it was short-lived.
So this is life in isolation. I am assuming that this will be more of the same next month, although I'd love to be pleasantly surprised if everyone follows the recommendations and we can get back to some form of usual life. But we're prepared to be in it for the long haul. Especially if it means protecting our Little Buddy.
See you in May,
LBM
Little Buddy's Momma
