The girls’ school picture day was on Friday, last week.  So, leading up to that day, we spent some time talking with the girls about what they could wear, and then on Thursday night there was a bit of a fashion show.  Audio didn’t have a lot of interest in the process, but Dee Dee seemed to care what she would wear. It was fun to have her try on different dresses with different tops and then show us her poses. The last thing she tried on was a white dress with a sparse pattern of flowers and leaves and a denim jacket over it, zipped up, half-way. I took some pictures and showed them to her. We were set. 

Luckily, by Friday morning everyone had gotten over their colds. After breakfast, my wife noticed something on the lapel of the jacket that Audio was going to wear and Dee Dee let us know that she had never given her approval of the outfit that I thought we’d settled on. So, while my wife worked on Audio’s jacket, I took Dee Dee upstairs to figure out what she was going to wear. I had taken a photo of a different combination that she’d liked. So, we used the photo to reassemble the outfit and then moved on with our morning. 

Dee Dee has a field trip coming up in two weeks. She’s going to a theater on the other side of town to see some sort of play. She’s excited because it’ll be her first field trip and her first time riding anywhere on a school bus. Her teacher sent an email about the trip and said that he could have up to four chaperones for the trip. At the end of the day, I responded to the email and offered to be one of the chaperones.  

School was closed for Rosh Hashanah on Monday, so it was a long weekend. Over the three days, Dee Dee developed a full-blown cold. I could tell that she didn’t feel good. But I had a hard time accepting that she caught a cold so soon after getting over a different cold. I let everyone know that I figured it had to be allergies. To prove my point, I switched the air filters on a furnace – A/C unit. Dee Dee’s symptoms didn’t let up, but my sinuses felt better.  

This morning, Dee Dee felt good enough to go to school. We took her temperature and did a COVID-19 test, then tried to do all the things we do on any other morning, just a little faster than usual. It was the coldest day this year, so far. Both of the girls wore light jackets over their usual hooded sweatshirts. Audio wore mittens. By accident, she picked up Dee Dee’s mittens. Luckily Dee Dee didn’t feel like wearing mittens because Audio’s wouldn’t have fit her. And, because Audio insisted that the mittens she was wearing were hers and not Dee Dee’s. When we got to school, I realized that I hadn’t done anything with Audio’s hair.  

One year ago, today I started being a full-time, stay-at-home dad. So many hyphens!