After the Shots (The Coronavirus Diaries, Part XXVII)
So, Birdie is up to date on her COVID vaccines. She also got her flu shot. What's changed in our life because of it?
Well, we still aren't going out and about very much. In addition to COVID, both the flu and RSV are running rampant this year, and there's no vaccine for RSV. We still aren't eating out at restaurants, and most other pre-pandemic/pre-child activities like indoor theater and concerts are off the table for the moment. We haven't gone to a movie yet, but we've at least talked about how we might attend one at off-hours picking seats that aren't near anybody else.
On the other hand, we are doing a bunch of other things that we weren't before.
- I'm back at CrossFit, finally, and let me tell you, it feels great. Since the beginning of November I've been getting up early to do the 7am class twice a week. There aren't too many people at the box that early, and frankly the mental and physical health benefits far outweigh the risk in my mind.
- In November, M got her first professional haircut since before the pandemic. She's used the same hairdresser for a long time, and that salon is still masking. Her hair had grown dramatically longer since her last haircut in late 2019, so she went and got quite a bit chopped off.
- We've had several people over for dinner or brunch, with more scheduled. Once, we even had five other people over at once. Granted, all these people were friends or family who were known to be vaccinated and did a COVID test before coming over, but small steps.
- M has been taking Birdie to the zoo a lot this year courtesy of our super discounted zoo membership from my employer, but she had been staying exclusively outside. As the weather has turned colder and the zoo has emptied out, she has started taking Birdie into some of the indoor areas when it's not crowded. She also took Birdie to the botanical gardens, again on a less crowded weekday. Birdie seems to be ok with a mask, which I find a bit surprising.
- Birdie has also gotten to visit the library. M is avoiding the children's events and just taking her into an empty corner of the kid's area (again, masked), but Birdie is really enjoying the new spaces and the new books.
- In general, we're a lot more casual about going into a store then we were previously, even masked. Before it was only when we really had to and lacked an online option. Now we'll go just because it's easier, like walking into a grocery store because our curbside order was missing something.
Our pre-pandemic selves would find all this very confusing, but that's our current state. We'll work up from there.
Well, we still aren't going out and about very much. In addition to COVID, both the flu and RSV are running rampant this year, and there's no vaccine for RSV. We still aren't eating out at restaurants, and most other pre-pandemic/pre-child activities like indoor theater and concerts are off the table for the moment. We haven't gone to a movie yet, but we've at least talked about how we might attend one at off-hours picking seats that aren't near anybody else.
On the other hand, we are doing a bunch of other things that we weren't before.
- I'm back at CrossFit, finally, and let me tell you, it feels great. Since the beginning of November I've been getting up early to do the 7am class twice a week. There aren't too many people at the box that early, and frankly the mental and physical health benefits far outweigh the risk in my mind.
- In November, M got her first professional haircut since before the pandemic. She's used the same hairdresser for a long time, and that salon is still masking. Her hair had grown dramatically longer since her last haircut in late 2019, so she went and got quite a bit chopped off.
- We've had several people over for dinner or brunch, with more scheduled. Once, we even had five other people over at once. Granted, all these people were friends or family who were known to be vaccinated and did a COVID test before coming over, but small steps.
- M has been taking Birdie to the zoo a lot this year courtesy of our super discounted zoo membership from my employer, but she had been staying exclusively outside. As the weather has turned colder and the zoo has emptied out, she has started taking Birdie into some of the indoor areas when it's not crowded. She also took Birdie to the botanical gardens, again on a less crowded weekday. Birdie seems to be ok with a mask, which I find a bit surprising.
- Birdie has also gotten to visit the library. M is avoiding the children's events and just taking her into an empty corner of the kid's area (again, masked), but Birdie is really enjoying the new spaces and the new books.
- In general, we're a lot more casual about going into a store then we were previously, even masked. Before it was only when we really had to and lacked an online option. Now we'll go just because it's easier, like walking into a grocery store because our curbside order was missing something.
Our pre-pandemic selves would find all this very confusing, but that's our current state. We'll work up from there.