Organizing Thursday: Deluxe Metal Wire Puzzle Storage Rack

Watching small children while working is impossible. My entire family is recovering from COVID (fortunately, symptoms were mild to moderate for all of us), and the kids are out of daycare this week while our isolation period passes. We have two small kids (4 and 1), and DH and I have been taking turns watching them while we work. But it is just so hard! Counting down the days until the kids go back to daycare so I can hear myself think again.

Anyone have recs for a label maker that will actually stick to things? I have one, but no matter how I do it, the labels don’t stick to the outside of storage bins. Ideally, I’d like to use my existing bins (not clear) and label them accordingly with kid clothing sizes, decorative stuff, etc. vs. buying all new clear bins! Bonus if the labels print semi large enough to be let’s say 1″ thick and then however long.

We just started sending our son a whopping 2 additional hours a day (total of 6) to daycare and he has come home a complete mess every day this week. Screaming nonstop. Doesn’t want to eat. Doesn’t want to nap.
He’s still eating the same amount and at the same times. He gets his usual 2 naps. I think he just must be overstimulated and worn out by the end of the day. I know many of you recommend some chillout screen time or other quiet time after daycare. Would this work for a 1 yo?
We are super lucky to both wfh and have flexible schedules to only need 6 hours of care, but this transition is driving me nuts.

Can I just say how impossible it is working with co-workers who don’t seem to understand that little kids get sick and there’s not much I can do to prevent or avoid it? I haven’t taken a full day off for vacation or personal reasons for as long as I can remember. Definitely not since my youngest was born a year ago. I have a partner who shares kiddo sick days equally, and I am responsive by email and phone even when I’m home with a sick baby. I work during naps and at night.

Despite all of this, people at my office act like I’m unreliable because I have to be out of the office with sick kids sometimes. I don’t want my kid to be sick and I try to prevent it whenever possible, obviously. But I also don’t have a stay at home partner or local family capable of helping, so 50% it is on me.

I’m so demoralized and tired. No one acts this way when someone is out for a golf tournament or even on vacation. I understand those things are planned in advance but — blah.

Train to the Hudson valley?

this is not something i have time for at all, but i was talking with a friend who has stopped taking their kid to the local children’s museum because they only require masks for the unvaccinated (so everyone age 2-11, 12+ unvaccinated) and our city has turned into a covid hot spot (i personally have not set foot into the museum since covid started). Their website claims that they follow CDC guidelines, but when the CDC shifted mask guidelines that everyone 2+ should wear masks again, they never shifted back (granted to me, a place that is specifically for children should’ve been requiring everyone to wear masks anyway bc it seems wrong for the intended audience of the place to be the only ones wearing them). I sent them an email and they have now updated their mask policy. I do not know if it will be enforced, but since the pediatric and adult ICUs are full where I live, maybe it will do something. Just a reminder, that sometimes being a squeaky wheel pays off!