This has been a really busy...no, make that insanely busy summer for us. You, me, and dad went on a vacay at the end of May through beginning of June to the northeast, including Canada! It was an amazing trip, we had a blast (ask me about my trip journal for details).
Then it was a short break and time for Mélo and the kids to arrive (on the 21st of June). While we enjoyed having Mélo around and you had a lot of fun times with the kids, it was rather stressful. Not one day during the nearly 7 weeks passed that we didn't hear French cussing, yelling, and running around. We went on a short road trip with them to Casey, IL, Mammoth Cave, and Louisville, KY. We also attended several festivals and fairs in our area. We went on a long road trip out west, where you got more and more confident about swimming. It was a great trip apart from Maty's behavior, which made it seem far longer than it actually was. I don't think we'll be doing any other road trips with them should they visit in the future unless she can get Maty to tolerate the car better (and get his outbursts under control). I doubt they will be back anytime soon, though, as they are moving to La Réunion for the school year as of the 23rd of this month (we'll see how long it actually lasts).
After they departed, I cleaned house A LOT for a couple of days and we planned to head to Nana's. The morning we were to head there, you complained of a sore throat. Even though I though it was unlikely, I tested you for Covid; it came up negative, so we went ahead as planned. You seemed fine...until the next day. You did not want to get out of bed, super tired. We chalked it up to you growing and maybe not having slept so well, etc...but you didn't eat much and stayed in the room most of the day. At bedtime, when Nana gave you a hug, she thought you felt warm. You are generally pretty warm, so it didn't seem extreme to me. We took your temp anyway and it was 101.3. Uh oh. We tested you for Covid and oh crap, you were positive. I was horrified, as I would have never have come to Nana's if I had thought for one second you could be carrying it like that. I didn't sleep well that night, as I felt guilty for bringing it to her house. But, as the CDC has told us, basically everyone will get Covid at some point because the new variants are super contagious. Thankfully, they are not as deadly, and we are vaxxed--Nana and Papa just got their 2nd boosters, but dad and I aren't yet eligible and you still need your first booster.
We tested you again on day 5 of the infection, and you still tested positive, though less so than the first day (it was instant and bright line that day; a bit more delayed and faint the second test). We've been sanitizing and being super cautious, yet yesterday, on the 4th day after your positive test, Pa-pa started coughing a lot and tested positive :( The next day, he met online with his doctor and got prescriptions for medications to help him get better faster. Turns out I counted wrong, so I tested you a day too early, oops. Despite that you were starting to have symptoms on the day we arrived, the day of the positive test is to be day 0, so we tested you on day 4. We tested you again on day 6 (we thought day 7) and still positive. Nana, Kevin, and I all tested that day, too, and we were all negative still. But the next day, Kevin tested positive. So frustrating. We had been being so precautious, yet it still managed to spread.
The day after that was Sunday, which was correctly calculated day 8 for you. You finally tested negative! As it had been another 48 hours, Nana and I both tested again. I turned up positive :( but thankfully, she turned up negative. Since you were negative, I figured we should head back home so that you would be able to correctly attend karate (we tried virtual from Nana's one night and it didn't work), as you had missed a week (11) and really need to attend week 12 in person so you can keep progressing on black belt and pass the test for the quarter. I debated, however, if it was a good idea to return to our house, as I didn't want to expose dad. But if we stayed, I'd be continuing to expose Nana, which would also be bad. Thus, we headed back to our home. To attempt to limit exposure to dad, I plan to stay in the craft/guest room and use the purple bathroom, mask whenever I leave the room and dad to mask if I need to be out of the room.
I was sad and frustrated the night of arrival, as I wanted to be with dad. Normally I'm okay being alone, but somehow it's different when it's forced. I wrapped my already masked face in a scarf so I could at least hug him. I sprayed everywhere I went as I gathered the necessary items for my isolation. So far, it's just been like having a bit of a head cold. I hope it stays that way. It's now towards the end of day 3 for me. Today is day 11 for you, so you went in person to karate tonight (where you are right now). Love you lots, as always.
