VIRUS DIARY: Time and longing during a locked-down babyhood
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Time and longing during a locked-down babyhood

Associated Press  

SEATTLE — My 8-month-old baby has now spent 32% of his life under quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the lockdown has further stretched the elasticity of time for me as I witness my son growing rapidly, even as time feels like it’s standing still out there in the world. The second half of babyhood is when things get fun — when the shock of being responsible for a tiny, fragile being has worn off a bit and the kid’s personality begins to emerge. In the past three months, he’s also started eating solid foods, babbling loudly and crawl-chasing his big brother all over the house. Clark’s older brother at this age was enjoying life’s pleasures simple and grand: weddings and parties, hikes and beach time, the sight of community festivals and the smells at a grocery store.

Life Baby Clark Virus  having  baby  diary  life  working  family  milestone  lockeddown  occasions  virus  quarantine  kids  longing  fear  babyhood

History of this topic

VIRUS DIARY: In face of tragedy, a faith in science endures
3 years, 11 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: In face of tragedy, a faith in science endures

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. We were in a modular classroom — basically a …

A Letter to My Pandemic Baby
4 years ago

A Letter to My Pandemic Baby

Wired  

On March 26, 2020, as hospitals in the US were starting to fill with coronavirus patients and the country was adjusting to the new reality of lockdown, WIRED senior associate editor Zak Jason found out he was expecting his first child. As World War II may seem to baby boomers and 9/11 to Gen Z, children born during and after …

VIRUS DIARY: ‘We’re together & we’re safe’
4 years, 6 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: ‘We’re together & we’re safe’

Associated Press  

PALMYRA, N.J. — All I wanted was to be home. Most nights, I’d stay at work later so I didn’t get back to their house during their family time. A promotion that brought me back to Philadelphia, a stone’s throw from my house, my bed, my couch, my husband. Sometimes we stop at their houses on our walks and I …

VIRUS DIARY: A pandemic, a layoff & a suddenly stay-home dad
4 years, 6 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: A pandemic, a layoff & a suddenly stay-home dad

Associated Press  

SALT LAKE CITY — The day his boss looked over at the TV screen and gave a forlorn nod at the plunging red lines of the stock market, my husband could feel the layoff coming. But we didn’t have much time to ponder as he switched from his microbrewery job to being a full-time dad to our 5-year-old daughter and …

VIRUS DIARY: Jumbled scenes from an isolated life, captured
4 years, 6 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Jumbled scenes from an isolated life, captured

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Working from home is a blissful reprieve from the many sounds of the office. Thank God that’s behind me, I think as I load four different Ben and Jerry’s pints into my cart. If ice cream protected you from COVID-19, I’d be the safest woman in the world. As I leave, I promise myself I’ll order online next …

VIRUS DIARY: The pandemic nudges him into the woods, sort of
4 years, 6 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: The pandemic nudges him into the woods, sort of

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — For someone who grew up on the sandy beaches and the urban jungle that is coastal South Florida, camping — real camping, as I imagined it — was the stuff you’d see in movies: friends gathered around a fire somewhere in the woods, eating marshmallows and telling ghost stories or listening for bears. Not while hiking the chaparral-covered …

VIRUS DIARY: He draws, and a world opens up for his mother
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: He draws, and a world opens up for his mother

Associated Press  

LONDON — I cannot draw. Parenting a special needs child has never been a walk in the park, but now we can’t even do that without hovering even more over our little human pinball, desperate to run, touch everything, say hi to all the living souls. I’m trying to breathe my way out of this pandemic and he’s having me …

VIRUS DIARY: Sweden stayed open. I stayed at home.
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Sweden stayed open. I stayed at home.

Associated Press  

STOCKHOLM — Early April. Long shifts producing stories on how swaths of the world’s population are staying home to keep the virus at bay and quash staggering death counts. WHO’s Dr. Tedros urging the world to “test, trace and isolate.” Drone shots of silenced old towns in Belgrade and Sarajevo. Swedish-Somalis, seven times overrepresented in April’s case numbers, have slammed …

VIRUS DIARY: Finding a surprising source of support in an ex
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Finding a surprising source of support in an ex

Associated Press  

CONCORD, N.H. — Embarrassing to admit but oddly comforting: My ex-husband’s husband and I share a slight crush on our state epidemiologist. So now it’s my ex who listens to my parenting and work woes, saves magazines for me to read, and delivers not only grocery staples but cakes, cookies and pies from a favorite bakery. Like other divorced parents, …

Quarantine Diaries: Dealing With Kids
4 years, 7 months ago

Quarantine Diaries: Dealing With Kids

Huff Post  

Quarantine Diaries is a communal project of stories from our readers about how they are managing their lives during the coronavirus crisis. When we get back home, it’s school work and then life skills. As a school secretary myself and my husband already working from home, we are a pretty normal family with three kids: an 18-year-old high school senior, …

VIRUS DIARY: When you prefer it anyway, staying in isn’t bad
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: When you prefer it anyway, staying in isn’t bad

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — Like you, I’ve been locked away at home for two months. I don’t grab brunch with friends, go to the gym, volunteer with a grief support group or pop in for a coffee or ice cream anymore. Uncharacteristically, I’m actually glad I’ve been browbeaten into some Zoom calls — including with a group of old work pals scattered …

VIRUS DIARY: Starting a life, as life withdraws around her
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Starting a life, as life withdraws around her

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — In December, I sat in a Manhattan building booming with shouts of praise and listened intently as a speaker from my church spoke about the end of the decade. The word was on my mind as I packed a large black suitcase, hopped on a plane and left New York City in March to start my first real …

VIRUS DIARY: Navigating a flu-like illness in the corona age
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Navigating a flu-like illness in the corona age

Associated Press  

TEL AVIV, Israel — For those of us from a region where outbursts of violence are an occupational hazard, coping with coronavirus seemed simple enough: Stay at home and you’ll be fine. A brief call to Israel’s national coronavirus hotline made it clear I was a low-priority case. The following day, a young woman in a full-body protective suit and …

VIRUS DIARY: Lockdown, loneliness and a difficult goodbye
4 years, 7 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Lockdown, loneliness and a difficult goodbye

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — On the last night of her life, my cat watched fireworks and flaming paper lanterns illuminate the dark New Delhi skies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked India’s 1.3 billion people, living under the world’s largest lockdown, to turn lights off and place earthen lamps — the Hindu symbol of good over evil — on window ledges …

VIRUS DIARY: Searching for sanity in tiny moments of joy
4 years, 8 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Searching for sanity in tiny moments of joy

Associated Press  

CHICAGO — We meet for a memorial service by video conference because that’s how it must be done these days. He called it “Ha Ha.” I imagine Nick’s wry smile. Even though I’ve tried to stop reading news a few hours before bedtime, I’m often not sleeping well. I worry about the families of the sick and dead, about those …

VIRUS DIARY: In a morning run, a tonic for pandemic anxiety
4 years, 8 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: In a morning run, a tonic for pandemic anxiety

Associated Press  

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — My alarm goes off shortly after 6 a.m. I’m usually up before then, lit by the glow of my iPhone, rifling through my inboxes, mindlessly scrolling feeds that don’t matter. I run on Scottsdale, Arizona’s, greenbelt: a stretch of golf courses, parks, ponds and playgrounds that runs for miles up the middle of the city. The elderly …

VIRUS DIARY: My new life felt small. Then came coronavirus.
4 years, 8 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: My new life felt small. Then came coronavirus.

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — “Home is wherever I’m with you,” the song rang out from the speaker. It felt expansive: new territories explored, new languages learned, the possibility of adventure around every corner, even at the grocery store. Then I found myself trying to slot back in with old friends whose lives had spun in new directions. Just when it seems …

VIRUS DIARY: The kids, at a distance, caring for `Madad’
4 years, 8 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: The kids, at a distance, caring for `Madad’

Associated Press  

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — We call them “Madad,” my siblings and I: So inseparable, not to say indistinct, have my parents become during 66 years of marriage. So when I recently picked up a buzzing phone to see “Jack & Shirley O’Connor,” my stomach dropped. As I explained in a text to my sisters and brother: “Disconcerting: Unexpected call from Madad.” …

VIRUS DIARY: In pandemic, a forlorn dog finds new purpose
4 years, 8 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: In pandemic, a forlorn dog finds new purpose

Associated Press  

BERKELEY, Calif. — “This feels like a good time to get another dog to help us get over the loss of Surfer,” the Professor announced in her FM radio-ready voice. Surfer was the Professor’s dog, but he had become one of my best buddies during the two years since we met and quickly bonded, as kindred spirits do. The Professor’s …

VIRUS DIARY: For the smallest ballplayers, an unsure spring
4 years, 8 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: For the smallest ballplayers, an unsure spring

Associated Press  

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — The question comes frequently. I’m not exactly lying as the weeks pass and my confidence wanes that our suburb east of Pittsburgh will somehow emerge from the coronavirus quarantine in time to get one in. This time of year, it’s typically a sea of scribbles and the occasional color-coded marker highlighting work schedules and the seemingly never-ending …

Curating news for children during pandemic
4 years, 9 months ago

Curating news for children during pandemic

The Hindu  

“I invite you to a picnic in our living room. Lockdown restrictions, academic schedules gone awry and, above all, the miserable feeling of being socially adrift… COVID-19 is upending the lives of children. When schools were shut abruptly in March, we, at The Hindu In School, received mails and calls from anxious parents and principals asking us what our “plans” …

VIRUS DIARY: Life with an essential worker is a daily dance
4 years, 9 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Life with an essential worker is a daily dance

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — The daily dance begins when he arrives at the door. He still goes to his Atlanta office every day, waking up to a 5:30 a.m. alarm in our bedroom, putting on work attire and heading out the door. He forgot to drop the bag, or I’m still on a work conference call, or we somehow got too close …

VIRUS DIARY: Walking, alone, on streets built for crowds
4 years, 9 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: Walking, alone, on streets built for crowds

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — How long has it been — two weeks, three weeks — since life began to change, day by day, as the coronavirus pandemic arrived in New York? Days melt one into the next as New Yorkers — miraculously — adapt to what once seemed unthinkable and the new norm just becomes normal. At the liquor store around …

VIRUS DIARY: `When are we going to the playground, Mama?’
4 years, 9 months ago

VIRUS DIARY: `When are we going to the playground, Mama?’

Associated Press  

OAKLAND, California — “When are we going to the playground, Mama?” she asks again today, like she did yesterday and the day before that. Now, I just ask if she wants to get dressed, she says “later, Mama!” and frolics around in pink bunny pajamas then settles to breakfast. Later we will have a chat on what makes us feel …

The Heartbreaking Reality Of Parenting In The Coronavirus Pandemic
4 years, 9 months ago

The Heartbreaking Reality Of Parenting In The Coronavirus Pandemic

Huff Post  

kyonntra via Getty Images My heart first started to break one night last week when my 8-year-old son had a sobbing meltdown in the bath because kids at school were saying they had the coronavirus and he didn’t know whether or not they were telling the truth. Another time, we ran into a young friend during our daily walk through …

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