Tuesday, March 31, 2020

When Nanaw went to pick Chase up on Tuesday morning, he was sitting on the living room by the good-bye shelf, surrounded by his bags. Nanaw said he looked like a little orphan, waiting to be picked up. Nanaw took a picture, the first one below. He didn't like being called an orphan. At at-home-school, Chase worked on this week's spelling words and his math. Mrs. Meyer wants pictures of certain work turned in by Friday. Mama sent Nanaw an email announcing that Mrs. Meyer is doing a Zoom session tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. for her class. She wanted everyone to show something that they'd made from Legos, or a picture they'd drawn or something they'd made like a necklace or a bracelet. Nanaw asked Mama if she could work with Chase to make something tonight because otherwise they'd use up valuable school time tomorrow making something. So Mama said they would. Mama sent Nanaw a picture of what they made: a St. Louis scene with the Arch. Yay, Chase!! During the day, Chase did the Focus Five with Mr. Kish's video again and looked at Mrs. Whelan's PE video. When Nanaw took Chase home, he went outside to play on the trampoline with Daddy. Mama and Nanaw took the dogs for a walk -- that was fun.

Monday, March 30, 2020

When Nanaw picked Chase up on Monday morning, he was sitting on the steps wearing his Jack Skellington bedroom slippers so Nanaw took a picture. Evidently, Chase left his regular slippers at Nanaw's house. Chase and Nanaw looked for the slippers when they got to Nanaw's house and found them under the computer table. Nanaw took a picture of Chase with the slippers. At-home-school was good today. They used Mrs. Meyer's new assignments. Mr. Kish sent a video of him doing the Focus Five. Mrs. Meyer sent an email saying she needs pictures of several of the assignments so she can use them for report cards. For one of their reading times, they read from Chase's two Roblox books -- a good idea from Nanaw. Chase did his 11 workbook pages, his math, handwriting and reading. Stella's mom posted some April journal pages on the 2nd grade ICS site, and Nanaw is going to use them for Chase's journal. When Chase got home, Mama told him he had mail. Mrs. Meyer answered his letter with a card and a note. She's so sweet. Mama said they were having Dairy Queen for dinner.

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Nanaw organized Chase's at-home-school materials into the carryall for school tomorrow; that's the first picture. She also made a template for the spelling words and used it for the 3rd and 4th weeks of the school closing. Nanaw emailed copies of the spelling word pages to Mama in case she wanted to send them to her friends Michele and Becky. Nanaw feels very fortunate to have this bonus time with Chase despite being such a tragic situation. When Nanaw got to Chase's house for dinner, she saw that Chase and Mama were writing with chalk on the driveway; Nanaw saw the letter E (that was Mama) and a smiley face. It turns out that they also wrote Hi Nanaw -- the last picture. Before dinner, Chase and Nanaw played with his stuffed animals on his bed. Dinner was yummy onion burgers and fettuccine al Fredo. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw played ball with the stuffed animals on Chase's bed. Then they played hockey in the hall. Then they played song quiz on Chase's iPad (it used to be Daddy's) with Mama before Nanaw went home.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Nanaw went over to visit Chase on Saturday evening. Chase and Daddy were out in the backyard playing. First, they were playing golf. Daddy was teaching Chase how to hold a golf club and how to hit a golf ball. Chase is pretty good at golf; however, he kept hitting the golf ball over the fence into the neighbor's yard. Next, they switched to playing Frisbee. They each had their own Frisbee and would choose targets to throw the Frisbee toward. Neither of them really won but they had a lot of fun playing, and Nanaw had a lot of fun watching. Mama had gone to Who Dat's to pick up dinner. Mama had a roast beef sandwich; Chase had a ham and cheese sandwich; Daddy had a Cuban sandwich; and Nanaw had a BBQ Pulled Pork sundae with baked beans and coleslaw. Nanaw brought dessert for them: chocolate pudding pies from Walmart. After dinner, Chase and Nanaw played Roblox on their devices. Chase and Connor, one of Chase's classmates, friended each other on Roblox. That made Chase so happy and so did playing games with Connor. Nanaw was very happy for Chase.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Friday's at-home school was a little difficult at times because Chase wanted to play on the laptop instead of doing school work. But Nanaw's new thing of sitting with Chase while he did his work seemed to make it easier. When Nanaw went downstairs to walk on the treadmill, Chase didn't want to go so he stayed upstairs on the laptop. Chase had fish sticks and mixed vegetables for lunch, under protest, of course. Chase managed to get all his school work done by the time it was time to go home. Chase and Nanaw left for Chase's house a little early because Mama had something special planned. She and Aunt Jen set up an online Happy Hour. Nanaw brought her O'Doul's and Chase had root beer while Mama and Daddy drank beer. It was good to see Aunt Jen, Uncle Joe and Jackson. Chase and Nanaw played hockey for awhile during the Facetime call and that was fun. Then Chase went upstairs to get his tablet, and Nanaw went home. Mama sent Nanaw the special picture that the 2nd grade class made and sent to Mrs. Meyer. So cute!

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Chase and Nanaw had a really busy at-home-school day on Thursday. They had to make up for all the work they didn't do yesterday. Nanaw figured out the perfect way to get Chase to do his work and behave himself: She sat right next to him, watching and helping, while he did his work. It worked really well so she's going to do it that way from now on. Chase did 11 workbook pages and didn’t fuss about it at all. When they went downstairs for Nanaw to walk on the treadmill, Chase sat at the crafts table again and did crafts. He also tried out Nanaw's new furniture from Aunt Joan. For lunch, Chase had toasted ravioli and mixed vegetables. In the afternoon, Chase had applesauce, Goldfish, Cheez-Its and pretzels. Unfortunately, it may have been too many snacks because Mama said he didn't want much dinner. When Nanaw took Chase home, Mama and Daddy were sitting outside at the WE bar. Chase changed into shorts and then played in the backyard with Daddy. When Nanaw got home, she found Humphrey was in the back seat where Chase left him. Nanaw texted a picture of Humphrey to Mama and told her that Humphrey was having a sleepover.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

At-home-school got a little disrupted on Wednesday. The mother of one of Chase's classmates was putting together a visual message for the teacher. Each student would hold a sign with their designated food. Chase's word was "much." Nanaw helped Chase draw the word. Then he used markers to color the sign. Nanaw took a picture of Chase working on the sign; a picture of him holding the sign in his pajamas; and a picture of him holding the sign after he was dressed. Nanaw sent the pictures to Mama and she passed them along. Next, Chase wrote a letter to his teacher. He typed it on the computer, and then wrote it out by hand. He was going to try to do it in cursive but he hasn't had much practice on capital cursive letters so he printed the letter. Once the letter was done and in an envelope, Chase and Nanaw drove to the post office to mail the letter. They spent so much time on the sign and the letter, that they didn't get all of the regular school work done. So Nanaw plans to have Chase catch up tomorrow. When Nanaw took Chase home, they saw that Mama was sitting outside in the driveway. Then Daddy came out, and Mama got a chair for Chase. It was very cute.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Chase wore his skeleton pajamas over to Nanaw's house today but Nanaw forgot to take a picture of him in them. Nanaw will remember next time. Mama sent along ICS clothes for Chase to wear for a picture she wanted Nanaw to take. Parents were going to post pictures of their children wearing ICS spirit wear on Facebook. Nanaw took a picture of Chase doing his handwriting practice in an ICS shirt and then one of him posing with a baseball bat wearing his ICS sweatshirt. Chase is quite the wonderful ham now when it comes to taking pictures. He smiles a beautiful smile on command when anyone takes a picture. Once upon a time, Nanaw used to have to perform to get him to smile for a picture. Chase postponed writing a letter to Mrs. Meyer until tomorrow. He's very funny about scheduling his at-home-school activities for the future. Chase and Nanaw played together on Roblox creating games. Chase was doing a hockey game, and Nanaw was building a castle. Nanaw still doesn't really know how to do all these Roblox things but Chase is always there to help her.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Mama sent along a banana for Chase this morning, one of her limited supply of bananas. And the bug gobbled it down when he ate his breakfast. When school started at 8 a.m., Chase did his morning work. Then Nanaw had him practice his cursive, with the letter f, r and s. He's getting really good at cursive. Next, he did math, which was more telling time exercises. He's also getting really good at telling time. He read the second story in the heavy book, and Nanaw read the directions and asked the questions. He read his religion lesson. At first recess, Chase and Nanaw played the Roblox Subway game again; he really likes it. For lunch, Chase ate the spaghetti Nanaw made Sunday night. She gave him too much, and he couldn't eat it all so Nanaw finished it off. Mama let Nanaw know that the closing of school had been extended to April 7. She said Mrs. Meyer sent out an email saying she was working on more assignments for the boys and girls and inviting them to write a letter to her. So Nanaw will work with Chase on writing a letter to Mrs. Meyer. Nanaw ill also send her an email thanking her for the school assignments and asking if she can include extra assignments for any of the boys and girls who want to do them.

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Last night, Nanaw made spaghetti for Chase to have for lunch next week. Making the spaghetti made Nanaw think about making it for Uncle Mike and Mama when they were little. So she took a picture of the spaghetti and sent it to Uncle Mike and Mama. It's the first picture below. On Sunday evening, Nanaw went over to visit Chase. Mama said they would pretend she was coming to baby-sit because of the stay-at-home order. Mama gave Nanaw a taste  of the chicken/bacon/ranch dinner -- it was really good. Daddy and Chase were watching a Star Wars movie so Nanaw watched with them for awhile. Then Chase and Nanaw played hockey in the kitchen and then in the hall. Then they played catch in the hall. Mama told Nanaw what Chase did last night and on Sunday. Last night, Hunter, Mason and their mom Becky showed up at Chase's house. They'd gone for a walk and came to visit, at a distance, of course. On Sunday, Mama, Daddy and Chase took Sam and Sylvester for a walk. Chase wanted to ride his bike but he's almost too big for it. He also wants to take the training wheels off. Mama gave Nanaw two work books to use in at-home school for tomorrow.

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Nanaw got to see Chase twice on Saturday. She went to Chase's house about nine in the morning. Mama and Nanaw were going to Uncle Elliott's funeral. Nanaw played with Chase before they left. He got out his Ice Cool game for them to play. First, he tried to do it on the kitchen table but there wasn't enough room. So he took it into the living room and put it on the floor. He put it all together, and Nanaw was very proud of him. Then he decided that instead of the Ice Cool game, he was going to play hockey. He started to play hockey, and Nanaw thought that was very funny. When Mama and Nanaw returned from Uncle Elliott's funeral, Chase and Daddy were out in the back yard playing baseball. Nanaw stayed for a few minutes to watch Chase bat. Hopefully, Nanaw can go visit Chase on Sunday evening. Mama was planning to have family game night.

Friday, March 20, 2020

Chase and Nanaw had another good at-home school day. Nanaw is very proud at how Chase is handling at-home school. He's taking it very seriously and not fussing about it. Of course, he's making strict rules about it: School starts at 8 a.m. so he gets to play on the laptop until 8. First recess is at 10 a.m. and he plays on the laptop then. At 11 a.m., Chase and Nanaw went downstairs for Nanaw to walk on the treadmill, and Chase to play in the playpen with his stuffed animals. Lunch is at noon, and he likes to eat his lunch at the laptop. Nanaw sees a pattern here, connected to the laptop. Nanaw went through Chase's study books that she bought at Dollar Tree and had him work on some of them. He had finished all his first week assignments. It's good that Monday starts of new week of second week assignments. While Nanaw was doing her exercises with hand weights, Chase got his weights out of the coffee table drawer and did his own exercises -- it was very cute. Mama and Nanaw went to Uncle Elliott's visitation Friday night, and Chase played with Daddy.