Baby diary: 17 months 4 weeks

[petronia]

Alan with his grandparents since last night, so I can deal with the AC repair that got pushed to Monday. (As I write, even chance it gets pushed to Tuesday.) We had great weather over the weekend, though, so spent a lot of time outside. With the COVID-19 reopening, the playground equipment in Verdun is now accessible, and since we were very early in the park with not a lot of others around, I gave into temptation and allowed Alan to play on the swings and the toddler slide and even the splash pad. He adored all the new games. But now there is no social distancing happening at all among the parents and young children, at least beyond what you would expect pre-COVID from strangers in public spaces. People wear masks and take care when entering stores, but I suppose they think, what's the point if the kids are back at daycare?

We also spent some quality time at Verdun Beach on Sunday morning. Again, Saturday was quite hot and the beach was packed -- I dislike packed public beaches at the best of times -- but Sunday was rather cooler/windier and there was hardly anyone at 10am. Alan dug about happily in the sand, wearing rubber boots and long sleeves and sun hat, and took wistful note of the other kids in swimsuits who were allowed to splash in the water. He is too cautious to immediately imitate even if he clearly wanted to; which is good because he will probably NEVER be allowed to go into the water at Verdun Beach, which is just the good old Saint Lawrence River and known to contain unacceptable E.coli overflow after a heavy rain.

I'll do another update on Friday, when Alan'll be 18 months old. :)

Comments

[koganbot]

No social distancing at the playgrounds that were recently reopened in the sprawling apartment-complex where we live, and few masks. Most of the kids are black or Hispanic so it's not owing to their parents being right-wing or libertarian, just that they've taken all the easing as a signal that things are safe. That's just my guess, though. I haven't asked anyone why.

Colorado had one of the highest infection rates owing mostly to hotspots in the northeast plains where there are several meat-packing plants. Now the virus seems more under control but we won't really know until a month or two. Didn't go to the demos because - among other things - I'm over 65, so high risk, and I assumed it would be impossible to keep social distance no matter how responsible the parade marshals, demonstraters, etc. would try to be. And the police couldn't be assumed to abide by social distancing any more than they'd abide by proper use of force (a judge had to issue an injunction to stop indiscriminate use of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, etc. [Didn't ban them outright but put restrictions on their use.]) Anyhow, social gathering still isn't safe but too many signals have been sent that it is.

(Btw, these Alan updates are a joy to read. Happy Year And A Half.)

[petronia]

Thank you! :) And, well, tbh it seems - it *is* cruel to keep kids from playing as kids do, and several months is long at this age. There is always a risk-reward calculus, as with the protests. We try to keep safe nonetheless. It's good to hear that you are as well.