Here we are – it’s the second day of the week. And yet, somehow it feels like at least Wednesday. Should I be concerned that it’s only day two but it’s already blurring in to one “mega day”?
The day began with an incredibly cute insight in to James’s life priorities. Having just woken up and come downstairs, the first thing he checked was his sunflower. And I’m both delighted and heartbroken to report that he showed genuine dismay that “his flower hasn’t grew – it’s still not grew”. I adore the focus and passion he had for the sunflower, but this is a strong indicator that we need to work on increasing his patience and potentially lowering/realigning his expectations when it comes to instant gratification. Plants just aren’t that quick!
Having placated James, it was then Megan who needed some assistance. Today was the day that Disney+ launched in the UK. This was big news in the Smith house as we’re all (even me when it comes to Pixar and Marvel) staunch supports of the House of Mouse. We have a relatively new TV so the expectation was that the Disney+ app would just appear and work, especially as we were following online guidance saying that you “just need to search for Disney+”. After some delving in to the depths of Google (and some choice words aimed at the TV), I then discovered that the app isn’t available on Philips televisions. Madness!
Thankfully I had an old Amazon Fire Stick knocking about somewhere (and even more thankfully, I was able to find it relatively quickly). So while the rest of the clan were exercising in front of the iPad (I’ll come to that later), I was hastily setting up the Fire Stick, updating the software and installing the Disney+ app. It was all worth the hassle and associated stress when, later in the day, the kids were laughing with uncontrollable excitement as they tried to spot Hank at the end of Finding Dory. Happy days.
While I frantically fiddling, clicking and (silently) swearing at Disney+, the rest of the gang were exercising along with Munchkin Sport (a local sports company who run the PE lessons at Genevieve’s school). My personal highlight was watching them dance along to “5, 6, 7, 8” by Steps (mostly because of Megan’s look of utter delight at the song choice).
This wasn’t the only TV related highlight from the day. I’d been given a hot tip that Horrible Histories was a great way of both entertaining and educating the children. You let them watch an episode but then get them to write down five facts they’ve learnt afterwards. A foolproof plan, apart from the fact that all of Genevieve’s facts were related to poo. Her favourite part was a re-imagined version of Thumbelina where the diminutive main character “drownededed in poo” (and that’s a direct quote).
The children made cards for Grandma and Grandad. They were in craft heaven with stickers, shapes and cutouts galore. Genevieve also added a ribbon strip to hers in case “they had no room and they needed to hang it up”. How thoughtful! The kids have yet to write inside the cards though (mainly because they’re saturated in PVA), so that’s a job for later in the week.
The current lockdown struck us as the perfect opportunity to teach the kids how to ride a bike. The only issue was that we had one for James but not for Genevieve. So the previous night we’d placed an order to go an collect in the morning. As Boris’s announcement to the nation that evening had specifically mandated that bike shops would remain open I had high hopes of just popping out to pick up the new bicycle. However, Halfords in Bromley had other ideas. Having checked the website, Twitter and Facebook to ensure that the shop was still open, I confidently left the house (in between meetings) to pick up Genevieve’s new wheels. I was then dismayed to find the doors locks and internal shutters half closed. I reckon they must have just shut the store. Oh well – the bike’s now on order for home delivery tomorrow so no harm done.
Megan began her teaching from home duties and made several phone calls to students and parents. We’re still finding our feet in terms of juggling each other’s work commitments, but it was great to see that these first calls were a big success (for both Megan and the students).
James and Genevieve created beautiful rainbows. They went in window for other children to spot which is one of the many lovely ideas to come out of the lock down. Genevieve made hers as neat as possible, although I’m not so sure on the colouring: “red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, light blue”. It was a beautiful drawing though! James’s effort was closer to a standard rainbow (“red, orange, lellow [sic], green, dark blue, red, purple”, bu he then added that is also included him “covered in slime”. Brillaint!
The kids played hide and seek in the garden which is relatively impressive as there aren’t many places to actually conceal yourself. Genevieve made a valiant effort by hiding under a load of cardboard boxes. When James found her “too quickly” (despite it being bloody obvious where she was”, she told him to “not find her so fast, capiche” like an adorable Italian gangster.
M&S have recently been giving away mini plant pots that we finally got around to doing today. The children explained the process as follows: “We put wet soil inside the flower pots. Then we put the seeds inside the soil and then we put more wet soil on and that’s how you make it.” Alan Titchmarsh eat your heart out!
Aside from the ongoing education and entertainment, Megan and I had some more adult concerns to deal with too. Firstly was the small matter of wrangling the Ocado website. Megan did battle and, despite being number 7,000ish in the queue, confirmed a slot, filled the basket and ensured the family will be fed and watered for the foreseeable.
The other online battle related to finding a replacement for our dishwasher. We have a rather gorgeous retro Smeg unit that has been doing us proud since 2009, but it’s on its last legs so we’re trying to find a replacement. It was only after the fourth company told us they couldn’t get the stock from the supplier that I put two and two together – they’re an Italian company and the country’s on lockdown. Oh well – let’s just hope that our one doesn’t properly bite the dust over the next few weeks/months!
The Smiths Family Blog 