Dear Diary: Maternity leave during the pandemic, finding joy through dress-up

CBC Calgary wants to hear from you. How are you finding the new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic? Have you gone for a haircut? Been to a restaurant? How will you spend your summer? Are you longing to get back to the office, or do you love working from home? Have you started a new hobby? Learned a new skill?Send us a page from your COVID-19 diary.

In this instalment of our series Dear Diary: In a Time of COVID-19, Diane Serani tells us about being on maternity leave during a pandemic, changed plans, and finding joy in her own personal tickle trunk.This submission has been edited for clarity and length.

When I was four I wrote thatwhen I grow up, I want to be a mom. This past September, I became a mom for the first time. I was lucky that my husband and I are both born and raised Calgarians with both sets of grandparents in town. I had lots of family support when we brought baby Matteo home.

I was excited for a year away from work to focus on our baby, to watch him discover the world, spend time with friends and familyand travel.

Matteo took his first plane ride in November to visit his great grandparents in B.C. We were to leave at the end of March for a two-week vacation in Arizona and were planning another trip in May. Of course, these trips did not happen.

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Matteo turned sixmonths in March and three days later the WHO declared a pandemic. As we all locked down, I couldn't help but grievethis was not the maternity leave I had envisioned.

Matteo learned to sit up, roll onto his stomach, and is learning to crawl (backwards for now) all in a physically distanced world away from our extended family.

He is now eight and a half months old, and I worry about how he will be affected by the pandemic.Will he have separation anxiety? How will he be when I go back to work? How will this affect his social development, when his contact with others outside our household is through video chat?

To help keep the anxiety at bay and fill our days at home, Matteo and I have started doing photo shoots to mark the big and small occasions.We have done birthday photo shoots to celebrate loved ones,a COVID-19 Easter shootin which his stuffed bunnies are all wearing masks,donned a sombrero for Cinco de Mayo, and became King Matteo on Victoria Day to celebrate the long weekend.

He has been Superman, gone to the "beach" and been an elephant.My husband thinks I have gone crazy.However, it keeps me sane.

Read all of our past Dear Diary entries here.

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