Allie in the South of Spain

My littlest turned 2 last week. She's no longer a baby and she will tell you, "yo solita," which means "I can do it by myself." Carla may not be talking much yet but she has quite a personality and it shows. She wants to do everything her older sisters do, doesn't want to be left behind and she's very independent. I guess that's pretty common for kids that have siblings. Her birthday fell on a Friday so she celebrated at daycare first and then with us at home in the afternoon. She was pretty spoiled by her friends and family both here in Spain and from abroad. Thank you to everyone who sent gifts and well wishes. We appreciate all the messages and posts for our girl. The next day we had a small celebration with some of Jose's family in their village. Carla didn't have a first birthday party at all due to the pandemic. This meant that this was her first (second) birthday party and she had a blast swimming in the pool and playing with her cousi...

I'm back again to update on how our past school year went since it just ended last week. My last post was written just having started back and I was nervous. I'm here to report that things went much more smoothly than I thought they would. Carla was in daycare and LOVED it. She walked in happily every day and went with her teacher (who constantly had to wear a mask) without even waving goodbye. Laura and Vera were in their second year of preschool and have learned a lot. They are starting to read in Spanish and have started to learn chess. Jose was back at his school full time and I went back to teach part-time while finishing another Master degree in bilingual education. Here in Spain there were a lot of health restrictions at schools (and in life in general). Kids from primary up had to wear masks all day, there was social distancing in classrooms and windows and doors were open for ventilation. All that said, we were in-person schooling for the entire course and besides one ...

  After what turned out to be a strange spring, we followed it up with a summer that we struggled to make as normal as possible. Online school ended in June for both the girls and Jose and I think everyone involved was ready for a break. Our community pool thankfully opened after much debate between neighbors and we took full advantage as the heat started to bear down on us. Summer here in the south of Spain is awful and after having spent months inside all day we used the pool as a much needed break. We also decided to book a house in the mountains for a few weeks early on when we saw what travel restrictions were going to look like. Since we weren't sure what the beach scene would be (and because going to the beach with three small children is a daunting task), we decided to head to the nearby mountains to a place with a pool all for ourselves. We stayed in a tiny village with about six houses so social distancing was not a problem and our days looked pretty much like they do whe...

45 days. It's been 45 days that we have been quarantined in our small apartment and I am happy to announce that yesterday Vera and Laura were finally able to go outside. With the latest relaxation of our lock down kids are able to go outside one hour a day, with one parent up to one kilometer away from their home. It's not much, but I will take it. If all goes well, adults will be added to this measure next week. It was wonderful to see them be able to run and stretch their legs, to shout hello to birds as loud as they wanted and to discover that it really is spring in the south of Spain. Vera and Laura have been amazing this past month and a half. Before it would have been impossible to imagine two four-year-olds staying inside for longer than a few rainy days. And they did it for 44 days, with no complaint, accepting the situation and trusting that we were doing what was best even if they could not understand it at times. Many people out there complaining and protesting...

This update is coming a few days late so really we are about four and a half weeks into our quarantine and still no end in sight. This past week has been hard since it's starting to really sink in how long we have been inside and not knowing when this is going to end. I've been reflecting on how fortunate we are (still healthy, Jose still working, the girls are still behaving better than I would have ever expected) but also how a lot of things seem to have worked out before this crisis to put us in a better position right now. For example, as many of you know I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer this past fall after having surgery to have my thyroid removed. I had to have a follow up radioactive iodine treatment when we got back from our visit to the US which required me to stay in the hospital isolated for a few days and then to self isolate at home for about a week. (Really I have been in quarantine more than not in 2020). I was able to get all of this done in February a...

Week three of quarantine in Spain recently ended. Not much has changed for us.  We try to wake up at about the same time each day, have breakfast and get dressed.  We are still doing lots of "projects" as the girls have come to call our arts and crafts time each day. The latest addition to our arsenal of activities has been beads. We've made just about everyone we know a bracelet. I really think our routine is making things easier all around.  Jose is still teaching his classes online and we are making good use of technology as we've been using Zoom for some family chats as well as having some classes with the girls' teachers. I am really thankful for the technology that is allowing us to stay connected with everyone. I'm used to using it for my family but we've been forced to do the same with Jose's family and our friends as well. Jose and I have continued our Marvel Universe movie marathon. We have only 10 left of the twenty or so ...

Week 2 of our quarantine has ended and we have another two (minimum) to go. In Spain the lock down has been extended until mid-April but few of us think it will be over by then. I follow the news enough to know that things don't look great and that there are still a lot of very sick people and over-worked hospital staff. I would prefer this to be a longer quarantine period rather than ending it too soon and having to do it all over again. We have continued with the same rhythm of life more or less as the first week, although the addition of the Disney plus app has certainly made things a bit easier. The girls have been enjoying watching a few movies and shows during down time each day and Jose and I have taken on the Marvel movies challenge. We are trying to watch all of the films in the MCU and have gotten through four of them so far. We are still doing a craft activity almost every day and trying to get everyone running around or dancing for about an hour. Jose and I...

We have been on lock-down in Spain for a little over a week ever since the government announced that schools would close, most businesses as well and that life as we knew it would drastically change in an attempt to slow down the transmission of COVID 19. Spain has been hit hard by this virus and I won't go into how I feel about how the government has been handling things but suffice it to say that I am hoping things will begin to look better sooner than later. Our quarantine is more than just social distancing. We are unable to leave our apartment except for necessary and justifiable reasons (going to the supermarket, the pharmacy, the hospital and little else). We are currently living in about 850 square feet of space, without the ability to go outside and play since that would risk us getting a fine. We are able to take Cooper out for a short walk in the vicinity of our apartment twice a day so at least Jose and I are getting some fresh air. The girls, not so much. Instead ...