Dear babies (or should I say toddlers?!?),
You are 14 months old now! And you’re both walking! Katherine started taking independent steps in late March and less than one month later, Elizabeth’s patient observation paid off. She took a few independent steps toward daddy, and the next day took off!
We got you guys a climber with a slide and it took Katherine two minutes to figure out how to climb up, and just one hour to go down it by herself! Elizabeth, true to form, watched Kat for a couple weeks, and then started climbing too! About a week later, Bee was going down the slide by herself too! You guys are getting along so well now (most of the time, haha) but you really like being up on the slide together!
Last time Mommy wrote to you, we had just started to see and experience the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19). The world was full of panic, misinformation, and chaos because the last time a global epidemic really took a foothold in the United States was in 1918, the Spanish Flu. Unfortunately, it is now classified as a pandemic. The infection rates are extremely high, humans have no natural immunity, and we just don’t know enough about it yet.
I think we all were rather naively hoping it would pass without really creating a ripple effect. Instead, in just two months, it has completely changed how we all live. The governor of MN (who we extremely thankful for because of his great leadership and ownership of the situation) has the state on a “Stay at Home” order. People wear masks when they shop for groceries. Children are doing school work at home. Many people have transitioned into working at home. We don’t visit friends and family. I wonder how many of these things will stick around long enough that you might remember it.
Even as the world changes happen, we still feel rather stable at home. Daddy is an essential worker because people need heat and air conditioning, so he goes out. You guys stay home with Mommy. We got new car seats in April and we have only used them twice. That’s a big change for us all. We used to leave the house at least once a week. For safety though, we are willing to make changes to try to prevent our family from getting it. It’s extra scary because you guys had RSV in March, which takes a long time for your little lungs to heal. So we’re being careful!
The world can be scary, and maybe a little extra so right now, and changes like the ones we have seen are hard. Mr. Rogers (he was a really good dude!) said that when he was young, his mother told him that when things are scary, look for the helpers. Girls, there are so many helpers right now! Whole companies changed their production lines or normal operations overnight: beer makers started making hand sanitizer, craft stores started donating materials to home seamstresses to make masks, companies stopped making their normal fashionable clothes and started producing gowns and face shields and so much more.
At night we pray: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, His love to guard me through the night, and wake me with the morning light. God bless… Katherine and Elizabeth, Mommy and Daddy, all of our family and friends, people working the front lines of the virus, people who are sick, people who are well, people protecting the nation, our nation’s farmers, people facing hardships, people who are helping, all God’s creatures and creations. Amen.
This morning you are peacefully playing with your Sesame Street “guys” together and small moments like these fuel my hope for the world. I love you baby nuggets!
Love, Mommy (and Daddy)
The Koep House 