Last Updated on 4 May 2020 by Colette
I don’t know about you, but it feels like this might have been two of the longest weeks of my life. It feels like forever since things were normal, since I could just pop out to the shops, see friends, or do the school run.
Having started the first full week of school closures with a well organised timetable and our day planned out in half hour slots we relaxed things a bit in the second week as school was providing plenty of work to keep everyone occupied. We essentially fell into a routine of doing Joe Wicks PE first thing then logging onto Seesaw to see what tasks they’d each been set. Their school work tended to last them till around lunch time. Some afternoons we did Cosmic Yoga after lunch, other times we just couldn’t be bothered.
I found that for my own sanity, it was better for me to potter around doing laundry and tidying the kitchen while the kids worked than to try and really do any work myself. This meant I was more readily available to help with their technical issues or if they needed some support with the tasks school had set. Once they’d had lunch and gone off to do their own thing, I would sit down at my desk and see what I could get done (which was often not that much due to my own concentration levels being so low!)
Friday was definitely a low day all round. All three kids had issues with their work being lost before they’d submitted – both girls cried at some point during the morning and in the end we just gave up, writing off the school day and agreeing we’d catch up the tasks at some point during the holiday. This was absolutely the right thing to do for both my sanity and theirs and everyone was much happier once we stopped trying to work.
The weekend saw another raft of cancelled plans thanks to lockdown – what should have been a childfree weekend of shopping, cocktails and brunch to celebrate our wedding anniversary became just another weekend at home.
Dave and I had a really lazy Saturday – with lots of lying on the sofa and watching TV. It was nice but I also am aware that the less I do, the less motivated I feel to do anything so before going to bed on Saturday night I set out what I wanted to achieve on Sunday. In the end I got quite a bit done in the garden – I did some wedding, made a start on painting the fence (a job that has needed doing for ages) and Dave set to work on removing some old tree stumps from the back garden. Of course we can only get so much done without being able to freely go out and buy the bits and bobs we need but hopefully we’ll be able to get the garden considerably tidier than it was at the start of lockdown!
Looking ahead to the start of the Easter holidays this week, Dave should have been off for two weeks as of tomorrow – we had a trip to Wales planned, our usual Easter weekend in York and his 40th at the end of the school hols – but we’ve cancelled his leave as there’s no point in him being off work to sit at home with us. (I appreciate we are lucky that he was allowed to do that as I know some people are being forced to take their pre-planned leave.) Dave is still going out to work a couple of days a week and working from home the rest of the time – I think this is keeping him sane to be honest!
I don’t intend to do any home schooling or stick to a routine particularly during the school holidays, however we have agreed there will be no screens from 9am till after lunch – just to try and keep them doing something other than watching TV / playing Xbox. The forecast for the coming week looks really lovely and would have been perfect for all those days out and adventures we had planned – but what can you do! At least it means that we can get out in the garden a bit.
Chloe has definitely found this week harder – she’s told me she’s starting to hate our house, that she’s bored with me (she said this in good humour and told me no offence was meant, I told her no offence taken and I’m bored of her too!). She has also said she has found it hard to get to sleep this week – which I think is mostly just her not being busy enough – both mentally and physically. (Mich also suggested the clocks changing won’t have helped which make sense.) We’ve agreed that over the holidays she can stay up a bit later, read for longer etc and see if that helps. She is regularly skyping Aunty Nic and her best friends but she said she just wants to see them in real life now. She told me earlier today that she’d give anything to go to Granny and Grandad’s house to see them.
Ben is just taking everything in his stride. Dave took him out for a 13 mile bike ride this morning which he clearly really enjoyed and I’m hopeful they will be able to keep doing this even though most of the rides they were training for have been cancelled or postponed. He’s enjoying chatting to his mates over Xbox and hasn’t really complained at all. (Oh and he’s also now sporting a COVID crop – he was two weeks over due a hair cut when we got locked down so . . . )
Amy is definitely still really emotional – getting upset about really silly things. She’s also a real boredom eater so the requests for snacks are high right now! She’s having weekly Skype chats with my Aunty and they are taking it in turns to read to each other which is cute.
After some concerns around Poppy’s vaccinations last week, we actually did manage to get her vaccinated earlier this week – we had thought we would have to start her vaccination process again but it turns out our local vet did use the same brand of vaccinations after all so ended up giving her her 2nd jabs a week early which means she can start going out for short walks at the end of next week (assuming we’re all still allowed to!)
The main lesson for me at the end of the second week of lockdown is that I’d be no good in prison.
