Today was like many other Saturdays, except for the social distancing. Because of the shut-downs, the wife had to run to take supplies to her father.

She left before any of the rest of us was awake. Well, before I was awake for the day. I got up with poopy puppy for the third night of midnight turds. We slept downstairs after a few trips outside, after the one in the upstairs kennel that woke us up. She’d planned to leave early, but doesn’t usually sneak out; I’m sure she was letting me doze after the midnight interruptions.

The kids came down and saw me dozing on the couch, and quickly hid in the office, noses glued to their iPads. While I was upstairs getting dressed, the 4-year old came in and said “dad, I pooped my pants.” He had; kid doesn’t lie about the important things. We had a little grumbly conversation about needing to pause and take body breaks, even when we like our iPads. Then he pointed out the dog poo pile in the hallway. I just can’t get away from poop this week! I cleaned his bottom, the hallway, and took care of some now full trash.

Everyone got dressed. Then they wanted breakfast.

We made waffles with banana and chocolate in them. Kids got to help stir and slice and mix and pour, but I manned the oil-splattering waffle iron. Everyone ate well. We did some other morning things, like running around making noise in the yard. I cautioned against running in the grass much, because it had rained, and it was a bit muddy. That warning didn’t pan out, but slipping helped drive the point home. Also, while no one was looking, the dogs took to trying to dig for gophers. I think I need to spread some mesh across the lawn to give it a spring to heal.

I made the kids happy by taking their bikes out of storage. I showed them how mushy their tires were, and they thought it was a trick because they couldn’t squeeze the tires like I could. We packed them into the Jeep and head out for a gas station; this is a critical need, right? The first station we stopped at has a busted air hose; a split on the soft, bendy part shoots all of the air before it can get to your wheel. The second one worked just fine, and in a few tries the older kiddo was trained in adding air to tires. They made a few laps around that part of the parking lot, until a car came near, then we packed them back to bring them home.

The forecast called for rain all day, at least it did when I checked before bed. I’m sure it was raining somewhere in the area, and it had rained earlier, but except for gloomy overcast skies, it was not raining here. So they took to riding up and down the alley.

While they raced to and fro, the neighbor shot a greeting from his deck on the far side of his yard. I asked him how his social distancing was going, and he said he’s onto self-quarantining. He had to fly to Florida earlier in the week to fetch his parents and drive them back, arriving just last night, so he’s counting today as his first of fourteen days to see how it goes. I wished him well, and we waved knowingly from across the yard. He’s about the same age, usual American shape, so either of us will probably do fine if it does happen.

Grand plans were suggested by them to bike to the playground, to which we’ve been saying “no,” largely because of cold or wet weather. It happened that while they were lapping in the alley, I spotted a “playgrounds closed” news article, which gave me the credibility I needed to get support from the older.

The sky started dripping just a bit, so we put the bikes away and hid inside for a bit. We watched the second half of Horton Hears a Who and then made a quick dash for take-out lunch in the rain. By then it was raining hard enough the dogs didn’t want to go out, and the kids understood that dad’s prediction was right, even if late.

A little while later, mom came home. No sooner had she unlocked the door and the kids were upon her. Evidently a whole day with dad, including bike rides and two trips out of the house, is no way to spend a Saturday. They baked a cake, which I can see as a better draw, for the older’s birthday tomorrow. Then we had some dinner and watched a Marvel movie, and now we’re working through baths.

So far, so good. We haven’t started bedtime struggles yet. We didn’t have any naps, and attempts to “rest” didn’t go great this afternoon. Who knows how it’ll go. Hopefully the bike riding will take its toll and everyone will crash fast.

Everyone’s healthy, still. Wife went shopping, though, so kind of day one again.