Earlier in the week, Grandad Stephen had brought over some children’s sections from his weekly paper for the kids to enjoy. Genevieve was drawn to the puzzle section and, in particular, a maths question about shapes. This meant I got some quality “maths with Daddy” time with her (including the difference between parallel and perpendicular lines, and acute and obtuse angles). She understood the concepts really quickly and was keen to finish the questions – brilliant!
I was taking the children to Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie’s house this morning for more government approved, socially distanced fun in the garden (even though the weather was threatening to turn nasty). I asked the kids to get ready and put their shoes on, but was surprised (and amused) to discover that they’d put their shoes on James’s pony “Pinky Pie” instead. Cute, but not conducive to getting out of the house quickly.
As we were expecting rain later, we stopped to see the friendly neighbour monkey on the way to Grandma Lindsey and Grandad Lawrie’s house (rather than risk leaving it until the afternoon). He was also doing maths – what a coincidence! I’m not so sure about his adding up though.
Here’s Grandad Lawrie’s record of the morning’s activities.
The aim of the day was to create interesting Duplo structures. This worked well to start with, but there were too many other competing and entertaining things to do to keep either Genevieve or James occupied for more than half an hour.
So, the morning continued with scooters being ‘propelled’ round the garden followed by a demonstration of how good (or bad) Genevieve and James are at skipping.
Then onto the more sedate activity of spotting different honey and bumble bees and watching them collect pollen on their legs. From the questions asked and the observations made, both look like they might be budding entomologists.
However, the highlight of the morning was probably the time spent by James magic painting and Genevieve being engrossed with her stickers book.
When Stephen came to collect the children, he brought along Genevieve’s work-in-progress non-fiction book. The writing was excellent – Grandma Lindsey was most impressed.
With the kids out of the house, Megan spent the day getting on top of her workload for school and planning ahead as far as possible. I don’t think that the general public fully understand or appreciate the expectations on teachers at the moment, particularly those who are also parents. On top of looking after me (yes – I’m still not quite right after getting the stupid virus), Megan’s having to plan lessons, manage and liaise with her team, call students, and mark/assess schoolwork. And on top of that she’s doing the lion’s share of the homeschooling with Genevieve and James, too. She’s a miracle worker.
Having set us up with a shiny new office door, Ross the carpenter was back to fix the wooden supports surrounding the garage door. The wood had started to rot and was making the front of the house look shabby. With new wood and a fresh lick of paint, the garage frame now looks great. However, the downside is that it really shows up all the dirt on the door itself, so I guess I’ll have to clean that as well!
After lunch, I went to collect the kids from their play date. It was clear that they’d had another brilliant morning. There were smiles all over and two very happy children!
When we got home I started thinking about dinner. We were having homemade burgers using Jamie Oliver’s recipe again, and James was on hand to be my sous-chef. He did an excellent job measuring the dry ingredients and expertly mixed in the egg and chopped onion. However, when it came to adding the minced beef, he was more keen to stab it than mix it together. He ended up flicking meat everywhere but we got there in the end.
The burgers were a big success – the kids absolutely wolfed them down at dinner. Getting them involved with the cooking means they’re much more likely to eat what we give them, but I have to admit that it does add a certain level of stress in the cooking process. Megan used to be the family’s chief burger maker (using Grandad Stephen’s secret ingredient, Marmite), but she may well be supplanted by Dadday and the kids. Watch this space!
Just before bed, Megan and Genevieve were playing together and generally messing about. This included some light-hearted name calling. Megan called Genevieve a “funny chicken”, in response to which Genevieve then called Megan a “silly cow”. Megan and I both paused (as the instinct was to tell Genevieve off for being so rude), but we then looked at each other and just burst out laughing. She had no idea why we were in such a fit of giggles – hilarious!
We put the kids to bed and then Megan went for socially distanced drinks with some mummy friends. The weather wasn’t quite as clement as she’d expected as she came home with very cold feet. Apparently they were like blocks of ice! She had good fun though. I’m glad she’s managing to see some friends in person.
I spent the evening catching up with the blog. I’m such a fusspot when it comes to choosing the right images, cropping and rotating to get them perfect, and then laying out the page and narrative so that each day flows nicely. I’m my own worst enemy – this whole blog was meant to be a quick job each day. Will I ever learn?
The Smiths Family Blog 