A wet and windy autumnal weekend to finish yet another week in lockdown 2.0. I’m not sure how I’m going to feel meeting up with people when this is all finally over, as I’m learning to enjoy only the company of my nearest and dearest a tad too much!
Regular readers will be relieved to know there there have been no poo related incidents this week. Oh, except for E getting some on her hand this afternoon and shouting for me to come and sort it out because “it smells”! I mean parenthood just keeps on giving, doesn’t it? But a week full of Zoom meetings was broken up a little by the odd bit of light relief so they had to make it into my latest top 5:
1. I think it’s completely understandable that this year has led to heightened emotions, with lots of people on edge. No one is immune and we all need to be kinder to each other. I do worry about kids in particular. Including my own. We had a complete meltdown from E at the start of the week and we couldn’t understand why. She was sat in the kitchen and just burst into tears and it broke our hearts. Through the sobs we managed to work out why she was upset. She had asked “Is it Easter tomorrow?” And when we said no, she was adamant we’d missed Easter completely and this was a cause of intense and genuine anguish. Now I thought it may have had something to do with Jesus and her RE lessons at school, but actually she just didn’t want to miss out on any chocolate eggs as she calmed down when she was reassured she would be getting some chocolate reindeer next month instead. 
2. It’s been very easy in 2020 to fall into a very repetitive and uninteresting routine. Day after day we spend mornings and evenings with the kids getting them ready either for school and nursery or for bed. There isn’t much to break up the monotony. But the saving grace is breakfast. I mean we all know that it’s the most important meal of the day, and don’t my kids know it! Can they decide each morning what to have? It’s a constant battle, as things they have always loved suddenly are no longer acceptable. This week’s request from nowhere was for chocolate weetabix. Now they had that about a year ago but, for no apparent reason, it was the only thing they would eat. Shame we only had plain, boring, normal weetabix. So I chucked some dark chocolate chips over the top, whilst patting myself for being creative. E wolfed it down but then told me it was a bit bitter. I didn’t mind however as she then asked what bitter meant! Everyone’s a critic these days! 
3. The wee lad has had yet another fantastic week including an unexpected trip to beach. Who goes and builds sandcastles in November I hear you ask? A hardy Low is the answer! One of his favourite activities this year has been collected pine cones whenever he sees them, but sadly there weren’t any on the beach so he brought home stones instead. He loves filling his pockets with his collection and apparently every time his nursery class goes outside, he begins by searching for any pine cones. The only negative to this is the fact we keep finding sparkly clean pine cones in the bottom of the washing machine. Daddy really needs to check his jacket pockets before throwing it into the machine!! 
4. This weekend saw a lot of birthday celebrations, most of which have had to be remote. We started with Grandad on Friday with a kid/grandkid video call, complete with birthday cake and candles in each house. E took control of the blowing out here, which I was fine with as I really don’t mind globs of spittle all over my chocolate cake. Saturday night featured an in law birthday quiz over Zoom and I’ve definitely never experienced anything like it! Pink was the theme and the cocktails were in full flow. I shouldn’t be offended that I was called Irish, and indeed take as a compliment we were asked to join a sequel next Saturday but only if I promised to wear my kilt. I can only hope that Steph’s birthday next week carries as much excitement! 
5. The biggest news of the week was definitely the start of the big Christmas build up. Now, I’ve always been a 1st December guy, and have managed to rein in my wife’s Christmas excitement until at the least the final calendar month. But 2020 is getting a special status and even my usual rules are being thrown out of the window! I just hope she doesn’t think this sets a precedent. M decided he was desperate for matching pink and blue trees for their bedrooms and so here we are, in the middle of November, with two trees up complete with baubles. E has already been making her Christmas cards and we cracked into the Christmas movies yesterday too. I might live to regret a six week build up, but am not regretting the M&S party food and mince pies which have already found pride of place. I really do love Christmas!! 
LawyerLow Diaries 