This pandemic has wrought havoc on our routines.
We adapted the best that we could, but when all the indoor “fun places” close down or else require a bajillion restrictions to function, we quit going.
We stopped going to indoor play areas and indoor gyms. We quit going to events at church, and pretty much all indoor social outings.
It is a long, arduous task to teach Jonah a new routine at a familiar place, and it’s anyone’s guess how long we will have to do that new routine…
Is it worth the stress of teaching Jonah how to function in a “pandemic world” or is it better to just “wait it out” until things return to normal?
This has been “the question” for a good long while.
When this all started, mask-wearing and social distancing were things Jonah just did not understand.
So to avoid the hassle of it, we just started going places outside.
Rain or shine, we’ve gone to beaches and parks and chased geese and ducks and ants all over the region.
When Jonah is outside, he is happy. And if he is dirty and soaked, all the better.
Rainy days have just been a cold miserable ordeal for Daddy, but oh-so worth it for Jojo’s happiness.
Jonah has a medical exemption from wearing a mask, but thanks to daily trips to the ice cream shop (where masks are required to enter), Jonah has successfully learned to wear one.
And now that things are starting to open up, we have been venturing back into some of our indoor venues.
I took Jonah to the store the other day for the first time in over a year.
Mama was able to even take him to the mall…
And now Jojo has a new “mall routine.” I followed him around the other day.
Check it out.
First Jojo walks to the Disney Store. He spends about 20 minutes in there and if he’s good, he might earn a small toy or two…
Then, he walks to the lego store. He looks around for about 20 minutes again, before leaving…
From there he embarks on a grand adventure of finding ALL THE ESCALATORS in the mall and rides each of them up and down again.
We will go in and out of department stores and visit every floor trekking at least half a mile in search of escalators…
I know it’s just the mall…
But It’s something Jonah enjoys, something that is WARM, and something that doesn’t involve chasing animals all over the city.
Hey. I’ll take that.
I’ll take ANYTHING that lessens all the anxieties and gets us a little bit closer to normalcy…
(and is also warm and dry. 😁)