Category: Our Tween/Teen

May 16, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Nothing profound this morning. It’s 552AM on a Saturday, and I am grateful for my fresh cup of coffee. The Upcycled Presidential Bird House is still bringing us great joy and the birds are singing outside https://drplasticpicker.com/five-plastic-free-things-that-weve-accomplished-during-stayhome-covid-19-quarantine/. I’m beginning to identify the different species and their bird songs are distinct. I never realized hummingbirds have different songs. I thought they didn’t have a song since they always seen pre-COVID-19 busy franatically beating their wings. But during this quarantine I’ve seen a hummingbird rest on a tree and I have learned to identify their distinct singing.

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May 15, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Today is a big day for our family. Our oldest is in ninth grade and taking his AP Computer Science exam today. The picture above is a silly collage of screenshots I took last night, while he was relaxing downstairs in his room. I was playing with our puppy but more to distract myself from worrying about our son. His exam is at 1pm today, and Mr. Plastic Picker is working from home to make sure our son logs in on time and everything goes as planned despite the abbreviated exam due to COVID-19 quarantine. The exam is an hour long and online, which is different than other AP exams in years past. But despite the abbreviated nature of the exam, it is a big day for our family.

Mr. Plastic Picker and I met in collage and proceeded to live an idyllic life of students in love. We were always very frugal and were raised with similar values, so we would go out once a week to the same Korean restaurant for over 10 years at the same table with the same waitress and ordering the same dish. Otherwise we mostly just ate simple dinners in the University Dining Hall and would take walks around Boston. We watched a lot of movies. And then at some point, it was time to have kids and we had our oldest when I was in between Intern and Junior year of pediatric residency also still in Boston. I remember sitting with the Chief of Pediatrics, this lauded figure in academic medicine who had published many front-page articles in Nature, and he asked me to be Chief Resident – and I was honored and accepted but also told him I was pregnant.

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May 15, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I was sitting on a giant Snorlax waiting for my daughter to finish her nightly routine, and for me to tuck her in. She is taller than me now, and I was half asleep petting our fluffy black small dog. My daughter came out and laid on the floor, and watched me pet our dog who is really her dog. And I woke up and looked at her and I said, “If I had known you when I was twelve, I’m not sure if I would have been your friend?” My daughter looked a bit taken aback. I continued, “I think I would have been jealous of you. You are so nice, so smart and pretty and I think I would have only been your friend if you liked Star Trek.” My daughter smiled and said, “That doesn’t make sense because I’m half you.” She is used to my nonsensical comments here and I had had a tiring and frustrating day at work. She proceeded to tell me about her day. She is generally a much quieter person than I was at the same age.

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May 3, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Back in October, I attended the American Academy of Pediatric National Conference in New Orleans with Dr. Dear Friend. We were there with a group of pediatricians from our health-care system, and it was a high-yield conference. Part of it was because we actually traveled to the conference and it was a fun destination. We had too much fun attending the lectures during the day, exploring new Orleans at night and also trying to reduce our plastic use! One of the talks we attended was on Pediatric Hypertension.

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