I am delighted to announce that as of this weekend, our whole family is vaccinated against Covid-19! Rose got her first dose on Saturday, along with her annual flu shot. I had registered her through the online system as soon as she turned 5 in September but after not hearing anything back, I went ahead and called the line directly and was able to book her shot. More than two and a half years into this whole pandemic thing, it’s interesting to notice how the different experiences in our family. This didn’t have the drama of Peter getting his shot along with other essential workers in April 2021, when he ran down the street to make sure he got there in time. It didn’t have the historical feel that I experienced when I sat in an auditorium of my peers on a bright May morning for my own shot. And it didn’t have the sombre, deep breath feel of the November afternoon when I and other parents signed up for the first available slots after the vaccine was approved for children ages 5 to 12. This time it was a routine appointment, the same as every other fall when we get our flu shots or not much different than the spring appointment when I took Rose to get her pre-kindergarten shots. I’m thankful though that Rose finally has this protection. (Peter and Pearl and I all got our respective boosters and flu shots in October.)
The rest of life has been the steady balance of work and school and family. Temperatures have dropped and the rain has returned, though not quite enough even now for our drought to be declared over. While we are still in a State of Local Emergency, the pool re-opened and the girls’ swim lessons have resumed. Saturday mornings have been spent on family swims, visits to the library, and the occasional family lunch at the local diner.
Halloween hit on a Monday this year which, as Rose’s kindergarten teacher said, was….interesting. We had a busy weekend going into the week and then the Sugar Day itself and then the post-Halloween crash. (Basically a kid hangover, a mom friend described it as.) Both Pearl and Rose were very excited to dress up and have a party in their classes.
Pearl was a magical cat and Rose was a bunny.
School drop-offs have not been the easiest recently as I have a little kindergartener who clings to me when I have to leave. Halloween morning was particularly hard and I went to work feeling pretty unhappy. My morning was turned around by a friend who stopped by with a coffee for me and an unprompted text from the school principal. She sent me photos of both girls, in costume, with big smiles. It made me feel extra thankful for this school community we get to be a part of and a reminder that my kids are in a place full of people who care for them. (I’m also thankful for the classroom staff who have worked with Rose and I and supported us both and the drop-offs have gotten better.)
I always have mixed feelings about Halloween, as someone who didn’t grow up trick-or-treating and doesn’t much enjoy horror or being scared. This was our 4th year trick-or-treating in our neighbourhood (we didn’t go out in 2020) and I have come to love it as a community event. It’s been such a fun way to get to know our neighbours and share memories with the people who live around us. People we would never have met otherwise become familiar faces. We went again this year with our good friends and neighbours and our 4 kids had a blast collecting candy. Pearl and Rose love organizing their candy afterward too!
Last week we had our first snow of the season. Just a dusting but the girls were very excited and were in their snow gear attempting to have a snow fight in the yard before school!
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That’s far too much candy for two little girls. Send half of it to me and I’ll martyr myself to save them from over-indulgence…
Yes, it’s interesting how routine the Covid vacs have become this winter. But the result of the mass programme has been that we seem to have changed the way vacs are given in general, It used to be that everyone made an appointment to go to their own GP practice and the nurse gave them the flu shot. But now they find a big hall in each town or district and appointments are sent out centrally for everyone to go along there, and they run from dawn to late night, giving the flu and Covid vacs together. It’s super-efficient and all happens much quicker, and I don’t think we’ll go back to the old system. It also means there’s been a much higher uptake of flu vacs than there ever used to be.
Interestingly, I’ve never received a vaccination at a doctor’s office. Here you get most vaccs from pharmacists and then they do a big town hall type thing for the flu shot every year. So this year they’ve just added the covid shot to that which makes it very simple. The kids get their shots at our local health unit, provided by the public health nurses, since the doses are different. I prefer getting my shots at the town hall big event because I find the nurses to be gentler in administration than the pharmacists but I’ve done both in the past!
Thank goodness for the Covid vaccinations. It is extraordinary how quickly they have become part of everyday life. I expect in years to come we’ll all look back at this time and realise how much life changed because of Covid, good and bad. For me working from home has been an absolute blessing.
Your ‘dusting’ of snow is lovely and so are the leaves on those trees.
Hope your little Rose settles into school drop offs soon. Glad the school community is so supportive.
There has been good mixed in with the hard. I think covid will turn out to be one of those generational divides – I know my kids will not remember life before covid.
Yes, I think you’re right about there being a before-Covid and an after-Covid. I suppose 100 years ago the survivors of the Spanish Flu felt much the same.
The snow is lovely! We’re nowhere near snow at the moment (in fact, it’s really unseasonably warm) so it’s nice to see it.
It’s very unusual for us to have snow this early. We went from unusually warm to unusually cold in the space of just a few days. Typical November temps would be more around 10 degrees and with lots of rain!
It’s common here for business and schools to organize a vaccine blitz, and everyone lines up like cows to be milked! If I happen to be at the doctor’s office and say I haven’t received a vaccine yet, they’re going to give it to me there. Other ones, that don’t appear at the same time (like the flu shot always happens on specific dates), I’ll schedule at a pharmacy.
Did the girls have a wheeling and dealing session during which they traded candy? I swear this is how kids learn to bargain and negotiate 😀
That happens at schools here too! And sometimes larger workplaces, I think. But the public vaccine fair is generally the most common for annual things like the flu shot.
They totally did! It brought back so many memories of swapping candy with my brother!