Over the hump! And over 13 weeks since the Low family lockdown started which means we’ve now spent a full quarter following the rules and staying at home as much as possible. Things have been pretty good recently but today ended up being a really tough day. I think it’s because everyone is exhausted, especially the kids who were just acting like zombies all morning. Grumpy kids make for snappy parents and it certainly wasn’t a house of bliss today!
Sadly for Steph she took the brunt of the kids playing up as I was busy working as usual. She’s a brilliant mam (even when she doesn’t think she is) and does a great job sneaking into my home office to grab the kids when they burst in during my Zoom calls. I never knew she could move like a ninja!
I’ve written (unbelievably) 455 so far in this diary and here are another top 5 to add to the record:
1. M is growing up and developing so quickly. I guess he’s at that age. I think he’s reached the point where he’s learning to use tools, a bit like with the Neanderthals. Unfortunately he doesn’t use them for good. Whether it is smacking E in the head with a hairbrush or drawing on the walls with a colouring pencil, you can literally see him grinning as he identifies some trouble and then implements his plan. Today he had a fruit salad for breakfast and when we turned around he had edged over and was happily scoffing E’s bowl as well. And he knew. You could tell that he knew. That sparkle in his eye gave it away. I’m not sure if I want that sparkle to stay but boy does it keep up on our toes! 🐒
2. Our very tired girl was definitely not up for #HomeSchooling this morning. She has been an absolute star recently so I suppose the bubble was always going to burst at some point. She just didn’t want to do anything other than watch Sarah & Duck (another very strange programme) no matter what Steph tried. It came back to bite her however when on the way back from our lunchtime walk she asked if she could have some ice cream when we got home. She was told no because she hadn’t been well behaved in the morning and that basically was the end of the world. We had a full on meltdown but once that drama had passed she suddenly was happy to do some schoolwork. I suspect she’ll be asking for ice cream tomorrow… 🍨
3. M finally went down for his afternoon nap and E was finally getting on with some schoolwork so Steph had nipped upstairs to speak to me. The next thing we hear E calling up “there’s no toilet roll and I need some to wipe my bum because I’ve had a poo.” Fair enough I hear you say, but we didn’t expect the next line “oh, I need you to come down NOW. There’s a bird here.” We were a bit confused by this, and even more so when we came downstairs to find Emma standing in the kitchen with her pants round her ankles pointing above the sink where a little bird was flying around. Inevitably Steph freaked out and it was down to Daddy to shoo it out of the window. That’ll teach us to keep the toilet roll well stocked in the downstairs toilet! 🦅
4. I smelt a very fine smell wafting up the stairs this afternoon and it turned out my wife had been marinading some chicken for our tea. It was something I was really looking forward to, and did know it was coming as we had lunch out in the gazebo (marquee!) and turned round to see M smearing the marinade all over the patio doors having reached up and grabbed the spoon. Having built up some excitement for my tea, my bubble was burst when she asked me to smell the chicken. I asked why and she explained she thought it had smelt a little funny this morning. The tale got stranger when she then told me that she thought the chicken looked furry but she had “stroked the fur” with a knife and she thought it was okay. Talk about putting a man off his tea! It tasted fine to me but I guess we’ll know tomorrow if I’ve been poisoned! 🍗
5. I’m not sure if this is allowed as it didn’t involve us directly but it was a particular highlight of the day. We heard from Steph’s dad that he was out on the bike today and rode past a family out for a little walk. Now to be fair to him the two children did look the absolute spit of E and M and that’s clearly what caught his eye. And we also know all of the grandparents are really missing the kids and can’t wait until they can have cuddles! However the parents with these kids looked nothing like Steph and me but that didn’t register and he slammed on his brakes right next to the little boy who was by the side of the road. The mam came running over to find out why some strange man had stopped next to her darling boy and Jim had to apologise and try to explain that he thought they were his grandkids! It made me laugh a lot – I bet he was mortified! 😆
LawyerLow Diaries 