Day One Hundred Sixteen

Remember when my boss' boss said we "need to prepare for winter, not a snowstorm" when it comes to this whole COVID-19 thing? That seems even smarter now than it did 3 months ago. In some ways, I started doing exactly that at the beginning of this all. In other ways, I have kept acting like the sun will come out tomorrow and this will all be over.

(If you don't have the Annie song stuck in your head now, you're a better person than me.)

The sun isn't coming out tomorrow.

And, thus, I'm starting the process of teaching Mila how to exist in this new world. The kid is notorious for making bad choices, so we're starting simple. We're learning how to wear a mask anytime we're anywhere near other people. We're also learning to STOP FREAKIN TOUCHING EVERY DAMN THING ON EARTH, KID.

Yeah ... um ... soooooo ... that touching thing is a challenge for her. A normal shopping trip with Mila includes her rubbing her grubby little paws over every single thing she encounters. It has ALWAYS been an issue, to the point that she doesn't even have to be with me and I will mutter, "Stop touching everything" as I walk through a store. I'm sure strangers think I'm perfectly sane. Doesn't everyone talk to invisible kids while they're putting toilet paper in their shopping cart?

But now that we live in a COVID-19 world, it was time to get REALLY serious about the stop touching things routine. I figured we'd try to figure it out while going places that were generally low risk. Hikes at state parks was our first adventure.

So it turns out Mila isn't allergic to poison ivy. That's what we learned from that. CLEARLY the "No touching" thing was going to be a heck of a challenge for her, especially since Mother Nature didn't seem to want to punish her for breaking rules.

We talked about it a whole lot more and I laid out one very specific threat - "If you want to be able to go shopping with me, you have to learn to keep your hands to yourself."

The kid really loves shopping. A lot. She doesn't care where we shop; she's game for absolutely everything. I think the thing she misses most about all of *this* is going to the mall, if we're being honest. She's stupid happy walking around a mall and looking at (and touching ::sigh::) every single thing.

I needed to buy her more masks (she's doing really well with the masks thing - she considers them a fashion accessory), which meant I needed to go to Gap Outlet. They win for masks for small people, for what it's worth. They actually fit Mila while no other ones do.

So I let her go with me. We chatted on our way in about how we were going to keep our masks on and not touch anything unless we were buying it. Mila agreed that the rules of engagement were reasonable.

AND THEN SHE SUCCEEDED. The kid was stupid obvious that it was causing her stress to not get to touch anything because she kept standing with her hands on her hips with her forehead scrunched up like she was trying to use telekinesis and make objects fly into her hands. I think she had a whole story worked up about how it wasn't her fault she was touching something because it attacked her, but then nothing attacked her and she managed to leave without touching even one thing.

It was a Christmas miracle.

Since then, I've taken her to the zoo ( ... if you're thinking about it, don't. I need to work on getting a refund for our membership because they aren't enforcing mask rules and it is an all around bad scene) and the Pittsburgh Botanical Garden (a much better experience) and both times she was incredibly mindful of the rules and didn't touch things.

It only took a global pandemic, but finally the kid is learning to keep her hands to herself. I'll take it.