Word of the day: Hochbettverbot. As in, “Max, das reicht! Jetzt hast du Hochbettverbot!” (“Max, enough! Effective immediately, you are barred from the top bunk!”) Best delivered loudly from the top bunk in your most imperious big sister voice.

We are quarantining at home until we receive word that our COVID test results are negative. Max had a cough yesterday and, with heart surgery coming up at the end of the month, we went to the doctor to make sure it wasn’t anything that would benefit from immediate treatment. We (Max and I) ended up getting tested for COVID since we both had light symptoms. The doctor thinks that we have some other simple virus, but tested just in case. Anyone who is tested for COVID must quarantine until they have the (negative) test results, so here we are. Frida’s home with us because she would have been tested if she were with us (she’s had a cough and headache and runny nose.) It’s tricky, though: both kids are energetic and keeping them home when they’re almost perfectly healthy seems silly (they’re doing backwards somersaults right now), but if they are infectious they would almost certainly spread it to their school classmates, teachers, and after-school program team. Especially with cases rising so quickly in Munich that schools are likely to close again soon, it doesn’t seem worth the risk. This is how we control the virus, right? Have symptoms–>get tested–>limit contact until test results are back. When this doesn’t happen, the virus is spread. When it does happen, the virus is controlled. Easy peasy, and we’re doing home haircuts and holiday prep in addition to schoolwork at home, so it counts as a win! (As long as it ends in the next 48 hours…)