Jigsaw puzzles and a climbing frame
It was a short week - or at least a massively long bank holiday weekend. It was probably by dint of not being allowed anywhere, but it seemed like that one might have been going to last forever. Not in a bad way at all, just that time seemed to be slowing down to back to that quality of endless summer days as a child.
I think I'm going to need to keep writing these diaries otherwise there's a real risk I might completely lose track of how long this lockdown lasts for!
The kids are doing ok. They seem to be getting used to this new normal, they're still being playing together more than I'd expect which is nice, but they're also actively looking out for each other which is genuinely lovely. We let them have an Easter egg hunt around the garden instead of having pudding on Easter Sunday and Sally carefully helped Pip find the eggs by giving him clues and occasionally shoving him in the right direction instead of finding them all herself. Points number one child, many points. Both of them do occasionally forget that Cleo is actually still a baby and get a bit enthusatic with her (read Pip tries to sit on her, but not so frequently as Sally sat on him I don't think) but they both love making her smile and helping her get the toys she wants.
Quiet time. I'm not sure how it happened, but we seem to be having more of it. They've both zeroed in on zigsaw puzzles. At times I get a whole half hour to do something whilst they're piecing them together if I manage to get Cleo to nap at the same time! I have acquired more puzzles.
Expectations - I never know quite how much I should expect from kids at different ages. I write a lot of silly things off as, they're 3/5 - what else can you expect? And then they do things that leave me genuinely scratching my head. The current prime example - the water tray (currently disassembled in the shed for other transgressions). Shortly after telling them they couldn't have any more water, I returned to find it full. How did this happen I ask? Pip, the three year old, carried the mop bucket upstairs, filled it in the bath and carried it back down again - without spilling any. But sometimes you fall off your chair eating dinner - how did you not spill the water??
He also out concentrated Sally on our beading afternoon and made this delightful necklace for himself. His less delightful mother didn't put a clasp on it for him though.
Then there was the arrival of the climbing frame. I started looking as soon as schools were closed in France, dithered a lot - they're really expensive - before justifying it on the basis of three children and potentially no playground all summer. It shipped from Germany so did take a while to get here - and then only two days of drilling and screwing all the bits together and digging holes for concrete tethers before it was ready for the delightful and only slightly spoilt small people to clamber upon it. They seem to really love it fortunately. There have so far only been minor bashes. Long may it continue and long may the sunshine last.
In other news I bought myself some new jeans. None of my jeans fit and it was making me feel crap. Gap kept sending me emails about their marvellous sales and I eventually relented and bought new jeans. One smart pair that fit properly and one slightly baggy pair but that don't fall down... these are making me the happiest for bumming about the house and the garden. Ed's comment was that they made me look like me, which was nice to hear.
It's now Tuesday - I think week 4 is going to be a short one!