Is Two Easier Than One

I have been aware of the kids' school schedules since the first day of school, so was prepared for all of the outliers: days when Aaron's school was closed, days when Jada's school was closed, early dismissal days, and so on. This week, between Christmas and New Year's, presented the trickiest of configurations: Aaron had school and Jada didn't. Because Aaron's school is further, and because my bike can only fit one kid, I reasoned that I would take them to Aaron's school via bus, bus Jada downtown to tool around for a bit, and then take the bus home to work from there while Jada watched TV and played. Not too difficult, although I don't much like working from home, especially if a kid's in the mix.

Nature, it seemed, had other plans altogether. A nasty snowstorm closed Aaron's school one day, and made travel treacherous the other days. I decided to just keep Aaron home even on the days his school was open. And you know what? It's hard to work from home when you have two kids at home. But I'm not sure it was any harder than if just Jada was home. Aaron by himself is easy: he watches TV and eats popcorn and takes naps. The two of them together are relatively easy: they may fight at times, but largely they play together and keep each other company. But Jada by herself is a challenge: don't expect much productivity when you have someone who doesn't nap and gets bored easily if she's by herself.

I'll have to look ahead to see if there are any other such days in the school year when Aaron has school but Jada doesn't. If I don't keep Aaron at home, I may need to recruit one of Jada's friends to keep her company.