Let's get this part out of the way first: We're spoiled. Spoiled rotten. We've been afforded a never-ending supply of luxuries like water, power and wifi that we can use to our hearts' content. We have so much water to waste that sometimes S and Z leave the tap on and walk away. So when the power went out and we didn't have water for two days, life as we know it ended. Especially for S and Z. No power meant no internet. And no Internet meant no escape. We were forced to live in "the moment". We didn't even know what that meant. S kept pointing to the laptop saying "pappop paptop" with a distressed look in her face. How is the laptop not on she thought? She didn't even notice it was dark. She just noticed that laptop was off. It scared her little heart.
Z walked into every room and tried to turn on all the lights. On and off he flicked each light switch repeatedly and anxiously. "The lights are off. The power is out", he paced around wondering what to make of this. He kept searching for solutions and insisted I was the one who turned it off and need to fix it. When I lit the candles, he started singing happy birthday. This is how spoiled we are. He thinks the only purpose candles serve are for lighting up birthday cakes as a signal to start singing. He asked where the cake was.
So what's a mom to do in the dark with two young kids? Put them to sleep ofcourse. Even though it was only 6:30pm. I told Z that the power will come back tomorrow morning and that it's just taking a break. He normally sleeps with a night light, so I made a make shift one with a tiny candle in a deep glass vase, and told him to watch the flame dance until he slept. Ofcourse Z being who he is, he woke up at one in the morning to ask if the power is back. He also wanted chocolate milk and wondered if Don Cherry was sleeping. "Yes," I said, "he is just like you should be."
When we woke up to a power-less home, I was the one to start panicking. How on earth am I going to get Z ready for school without my coffee? The milk and everything in the fridge was no longer safe to eat, so there wasn't any breakfast either. That's not the worst part. We didn't even have running water to brush our teeth, wash our faces, or rinse an apple.
So how did we go two days? In case anyone is in this predicament, make sure you follow these rules:
1. Flee from your home to a safe haven with INTERNET, power, and water.
2. If 1 is not possible, Baby wipes. Lots of baby wipes.
3. Hand sanitizer.
4. Take out ALL the books on your kid's bookshelf and start reading and have them read to you. S can't read because she's one. But her favourite part was pulling all the books off the book shelf. It gave us something to do.
5. Hide all electronic devices that lost power from the kids. It'll save you the headache of them whining about them not working.
6. Have non-perishable foods in your cabinet and present them to your kids as if its completely normal to have granola bars and crackers for lunch.
7. Leave home until it's bed time. It's honestly hard enough to stay home with the kids when there is power. Imagine a life where you have to entertain them using your brain.
Because I had nothing better to do, I wanted to clean. But I couldn't even do that. I couldn't do dishes, run the washer or dryer, wipe down counters, or vacuum. It was the first time in my life I actually felt sad about not being able to clean.
So I prepared tax papers and organized all our files instead. In a way, I'm glad my phone battery died. I'm ready for you, taxes!
Were you ever stuck at home during a power outage? How did you pass the time? Share in the comments!
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