Social Distancing, Day (Photo Included)

How many ever days that is. That's how long the social distancing has been so far. I believe this is the 7th week, officially? I think this is James's 9th week working from home.

Being at home this long has brought up some interesting things for Mal, by way of toys he hasn't played with for months, years, and even ever. He asked me to get out his Super Wings last night, and I had to admit we didn't have them anymore (Goodwill donation). He was so upset, I did end up ordering a new set, smaller than he had before. He cried when I told him I'd gotten rid of the GIANT Jet we'd bought when Toys R Us was closing... and I didn't replace that.

Last night, he asked to play with his Florida 500 Cars track. I gave it away MONTHS ago. He had only played with it one time in a year, and it took me longer to put it together, take it apart, and put it back away than he spent with it that time.

Then today, he wanted to pretend to be the tired dragon from the Ruined Kingdom in Super Mario Odyssey, and asked me to help him find his "dragon mask." This was a mask we'd gotten with a Burger King meal back before he ever even played with toys (the movie was released in 2014, so the toy was OLD) and he'd literally never used it once.So when I did a clean-out of Happy-Meal-style toys a few months ago, that went. Sigh.

Another thing is clothes. We went to my parents' for a bit Saturday (I was checking on elderly folks, so that's totally covered in the stay-home orders that expire at the end of this week), and he took off his shorts the second we walked in. He said they were making him "sick" on the drive up. Then a couple of hours later, he complained that his shirt was too hot and lost that, too. After six full weeks at home, that kid cannot wear clothes.

We've been doing a kind of theme dinner every Friday during what feels kind of like lockdown. I had found a 12-pack of Baja Blue Mountain Dew Zero at Dollar General a week into "quarantine" and am drinking one can of the soda each Friday with my meal. I've been hoping the restrictions would be lifted before I run out. I think we're 5 down now. Let's count.

The first week, we dressed up fancy and had a nice meal. Well, James and I dressed up fancy. Mal just dressed up.

D did not participate in the dressing up (I was hoping for a cosplay, but alas...) but did enjoy the steak dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse.

The following week, in order to draw Mal into the festivities a little more, we had Minecraft night. We used items only found in-game, including pork chops, potatoes, mushroom soup, apples, and cookies.

Mal kept walking around saying, "I feel like I'm IN Minecraft!" He also dressed for the occasion, and I did my best impression of an ocelot (from the game).

Continuing in the "Mal's gonna love this" game, we had Mario's Italian Extravaganza the following Friday.

The next week, we visited the Krusty Krab, where James and I had Krabby Patties and Mal had a Krusty Krab pizza.

Then last week, I just came up with "fake foods." Our actual dinner was meatloaf and potatoes, but it looked like cupcakes. And dessert was basically a cupcake, but looked like spaghetti and meatballs.

James asked me what the cucumbers were supposed to be and, I don't know. Make something up. I was tired and we needed a green vegetable. But lest you think I'm not serious about this stuff, here's how I made the "sprinkles" on the meatloaf cupcakes:

Yes, I used a mandolin on the carrot, then I went back with a hole-punch to make them a consistent size.

Mal has been watching a lot of YouTube and playing a lot of video games, but has also been pretending a whole bunch. Here are some pictures of that, and sorry that he doesn't wear clothes anymore.