A wet and windy Wednesday in lockdown and a stark realisation has come over me this evening. Since Steph was furloughed I’ve been able to work more normal hours but in reality that just means more hours. And it means I’m hardly seeing the kids at all – we’ve not even been out for our lunchtime walk for the last couple of days. It sank in tonight that the kids have now latched onto Mammy and aren’t even that interested in me when I am downstairs. Sad times given the amount of fun we have had recently but tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to get back to the right balance.
It’s been lovely to have some slight easing of the lockdown restrictions and the ability to meet people outdoors which of course coincided with the end of summer and start of autumn, well according to E. Who wants to sit in my garden in the rain?
Anyway, I was pretty dependent again on Steph to feed me a top 5 to share with you all:
1. Today’s #HomeSchooling was definitely a game of two halves. This morning E smashed through another pile of work and finished yet another workbook. I’m really proud with how she is applying herself. After lunch however there seemed to be a sea change and she just wanted to watch Frozen 2 (again!) You’ll remember it’s her new favourite film and there was something weirdly comforting to hear the songs wafting up the stairs, as they were the same songs we heard every hour on the hour on every day we were in Disneyland Paris and she insisted on watching the Frozen parade multiple times a day! Ah, happy times! 🙉
2. We have finally found our way with school topics for the next few weeks, which is a relief as we’ve had a letter from E’s school confirming her class will not be returning this academic year. We broke the news to her, fully expecting an upset little girl, but to her credit she took it very well. She took a physical step back but immediately announced “Mammy and Daddy. It’s fine. You know I’m upset but I’m not that upset and I’m fine being here with you two and Matthew and I can do my work. And the one good thing is I like the food here and I don’t have to eat the school food!” Always looking for the silver lining bless her. So she’s here to stay and they have decided that she wants to study some countries of the world, starting with Russia apparently. I’ll be interested to see what she produces for that but I’m happy to sample the vodka! 🌏
3. During my very brief conversation with E at lunchtime we had a strange exchange which made me chuckle. I found one of her babies hidden in our bedroom so I tucked it under my shirt when I came downstairs. She noticed the big lump and pulled it out. “Oh, I’ve had a baby” I suggested.
“Don’t be RIDICULOUS Daddy. You can’t lay babies, you’re not a Mammy!”
“Lay a baby?”
“Yes Daddy. Only mammies can lay babies not daddies.”
“I didn’t know mammies laid eggs.”
“You’re being silly now Daddy. Mammies don’t lay eggs; they lay babies. And you can’t do that. Unless you dress as Mammy and she can dress as you and then you can have a turn to be the boss of the house.”
I think Steph has brainwashed them and they genuinely believe she’s in charge!! 🥚
4. M is clearly planning on growing, yet again, as he is constantly eating. He just keeping dragging up to the cupboards and pointing at his mouth. Steph succumbs very regularly and he is doing a good job of cleaning us out of biscuits. She thinks it’s really cute as she always gives him 2 and he carries one through to E and gobbles the other. Except today when he was busted pretending to take the biscuit to E but actually was shoving both in his mouth before going back for more. Like father like son! 🍪
5. Tonight was our weekly work quiz, hosted for the first time by Steph. She put tons of work into preparing it and it all went very well. We packed the kids off to bed nice and early so we could set up and they were remarkably quiet. Until half way through the quiz when E snuck down the stairs and started trying to negotiate staying up. As soon as the quiz finished she was taken back up and M started, so he had to come down and start playing bowling. He loves lining things up and counting them but doing this at 9.30pm isn’t ideal, and I’m not sure missing all the pins with his throw and kicking them over instead actually counts. Still so much to teach him! 🎳
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