Good morning, 

NorCal is hailing and flooding. People are under evacuation orders. And it’s 45 degrees in Chicago in January. Something ain’t right with the world right now. 

Hope everyone in California is safe and getting through this craziness. 

We, too, hunkered down for most of yesterday. (For different reasons). I pulled out all the bells and whistles to entertain this little guy while he took a sick day from school. 

I know the school welcomes kids with coughs. As long as he doesn’t have a fever, we can send him to school. 

But every time I send him to school with a minor cough, he comes back with a bigger one. So, I figured, if I have the bandwidth to take care of him – and simultaneously be available for work – why not just keep him home to avoid exacerbating the cough? 

By 2pm, we both were going a little stir-crazy. And there was only so much fingerpaint I could deal with. So we bundled up and walked over to the park. I was laughing with Ankur yesterday that our kid has “regressed” on the playground since going to school. We used to go to the playground multiple times a day when he was at home with me. And now that the playground is a rare occurrence (also because, winter), the things he was once able to do aren’t as easy for him. Either that or it’s just a heck of a lot harder when you’re wearing a winter coat). 

I mean, don’t worry. I’M NOT THAT PERSON that attempts to bootcamp their kid through the playground equipment. It was just an interesting observation. 

Yesterday was also the first time this kid fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting into the bed. So I’m here to say that playground time works wonders. Either that or the fact that, at home, I can make naptime earlier. He napped from 11-12:30 yesterday. 

Who knows? 

The old me would have tried to mimic this day to a T in an effort to get the same results. 

And this current version of me knows that toddlers don’t give a sh*t about your formulaic approach to parenting and they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do regardless of how well you timed it all out. 

OKAY, well, I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and still not quite sure if we’re sending him to school. He did better last night, but we’ll see how he sounds when he wakes up. 

Be back tomorrow! Have a good one! 

AND STAY SAFE, CALIFORNIANS!