Thankfully, the kids' dentist appointments were scheduled after the dentists were allowed to reopen. Paul's appointment in early May fell during the lockdown, which means instead of going 6 months in between cleanings, he actually will end up going 11 months in between cleanings because they rescheduled his appointment for a date in October. I had to fill out a COVID-19 questionnaire for each of them, and a teenager took all of their temperatures. All three got a good report yesterday.
The free visit to Bee's Backyard in late February didn't end up actually being free because a boy accidently broke Ian's glasses while we were there. At first I had him wear his old pair of eyeglasses, but he said they were tight on his face. Then for a few months it wasn't possible to go to the eye doctor except for emergencies. Once the eye doctors were allowed to reopen, I called to schedule an appointment. He was last seen in October 2018. I wasn't planning to take him to the eye doctor this year, but I figured if I was buying him new glasses I should make sure the prescription was right. Thankfully the exam only cost $45, and later today I will be ordering glasses for him on Zenni, which is a much more affordable way to purchase eyeglasses. I asked her to measure his pupillary distance today as that is something you have to know to order them online. He could have been seen a couple of weeks ago, but they didn't want me to show up with all three kids. They picked this date because fewer patients would be there this morning, which meant they would allow me to have all three kids with me. The receptionist took the temperature of all four of us. I will begin allowing Nadia to babysit Oliver in the near future since she's turning twelve tomorrow. After the eye doctor, I got and returned some books at the library, got the homeschool affidavit for 2020-21 notarized at the State Farm agency where we have our life insurance (they do notarizations for free for customers), and bought 6 donuts for Paul and the kids to have for breakfast tomorrow. Paul will probably eat his tonight. Usually four of us eat one and the person who is celebrating their birthday gets two. Since I'm on a diet right now (I have lost 9 pounds in the past 5 weeks), I am not going to eat a donut. Nadia and Paul will each get two donuts this time. I told the boys that Father's Day was two days ago and Nadia's birthday is tomorrow. I wore a face mask for my trip into the library's lobby, and we all wore masks at the dentist and eye doctor. I didn't wear one in the State Farm agency because they had a sign on the door saying none of their employees are wearing masks. If I don't have to wear one, I don't.
Yesterday when we went to get the kids' free school lunches and breakfasts, I also got a few things at CVS. I used to go every other week when I was putting more effort into couponing. I went very rarely during the two most recent years I was teaching at BU. For the past 10 months I've been going at least once a month. Yesterday I bought four bags of Dorito's (two bags of the nacho kind as they are one of Paul's favorite and two bags of the Ranch kind as they are one of Nadia's favorite), six 2 liters of Pepsi/ Mt. Dew for Paul, and four boxes of cereal for Paul and the kids. I paid a total of $10.13 for those 14 items. Later in the day Oliver asked me if he could ride his bike with two boys who are 12 years old to the Country Store. It's six tenths of a mile from our house. He's gone there with them before, but he hadn't bought anything before. He asked if he could buy a popsicle or some other snack with his money. I made the mistake of giving him a $5 bill from his bank, which was almost all the money he had. I told him to put the change he received after he made his purchase into his pocket. I never shop at this Amish store because of the prices. Oliver came home with a big smile, no money, and a grocery bag that contained five small (one ounce) bags of Doritos. They cost $1 each. I explained to him that at CVS earlier than day I had paid less than $1 for each 9 ounce bag. Without coupons he could have gotten two 9 ounce bags for $4 - 18 ounces for $4 instead of 5 ounces for $5. Hopefully he learned something through this shopping adventure. At camp next week I'm going to put $10 on each child's account for the snack shop. Hopefully he won't spend it all on the first day! They said the snacks range in price from 50 cents to $2.50 each so I figure $2 per day should suffice. The snacks are free at Camp Susque, but we pay far more for them to attend Camp Susque.
I walked to three different playgrounds in the past three days. Oliver and Ian played at the one we walked to on Sunday. Oliver was the only one who played yesterday and the only one who joined me today. Yesterday we were able to go in the morning, which is definitely preferable when it's a hot day. Sunday and today I came home a sweaty mess. Yesterday a day care center had some school age kids at the playground, which intimidated Ian and Nadia. Oliver played with one of his teammates from basketball. Ian told me he didn't think he should be around other people because of COVID-19. It broke my heart to hear him say that. I would never have guessed that playing at a playground with a handful of other kids would seem frightening to my 10.5 year old. 2020 is such an unusual year. I usually mow the lawn once a week, but it's been ten days since I last mowed because we went more than a week without any rain. I think I'll mow tomorrow, which means we won't walk to a playground tomorrow. It is nice to be walking to a playground instead of just walking for the sake of getting exercise.
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