School Holidays in Isolation
Ms4 is spending a large proportion of her school holidays with textas in hand.
She ran out of black, but a little research revealed that it was possible to get the crayola washable markers as a box of 12 black markers. They're intended for childcare centers and the like, but will probably be sufficient for her as well.
So in our first photo you see her set up at the base of the stairs, where the wifi is strong. She likes to bring up YouTube videos of people drawing something, and then she tries to copy the method herself.
Sometimes the initial shape is too difficult for her to copy to her satisfaction, so she asks me to do the outline, then she takes over again to draw in details and colour in.
Today, she put together a written specification for her birthday cake, including a helpful diagram to illustrate the number of required candles and rainbow of lollies on the outside.
She drew my attention to the fact that she had drawn partial lollies at the edge of the cake, because they wrap around and it's more realistic that way. I assume I can thank one of the YouTube tutorials for that.
This evening she wrote herself a To-Do List for tomorrow.
The cats seem to have become accustomed to having the kids around all the time. Abby is happy to have lots of company and often sits with Ms4 as she draws. Ella was a lot less happy, but is now resigned to sharing space with them rather than attempting to hide all day.
In this photo you get to see Ella and one of the chooks sizing one another up through the back door.
The hen is creatively named "Red", and is convinced she is a pet, so doesn't understand why we let the cats inside but not her.
During the term our home project has been getting the kids moved into their own bedrooms, and David's office moved. This meant each room in turn needed to be cleared, cleaned, painted, then their stuff moved in.
We finally completed the main task in time for Mr8's birthday.
I'm not sure they're actually getting any more sleep, but they both appreciate having their own space and defend them vigorously.
Here you get a glimpse of his room taken before he kicked me out. Apparently I haven't actually taken a photo of Ms4's room yet...
This biggest challenge is getting them to do physical activity. The last couple of days have seen Mr8 with a sore neck from too much screen time, and Ms4 with a sore neck from too much drawing.
This photo is from when I let them play with the props in the fencing games bag as a lure to get them outside. Other lures have included cricket with dad, riding bicycles, walks, gardening, and "just go outside and play".
It does seem to be getting easier to get them out though, the longer they are stuck at home.
They mostly seem to be coping quite well at home, and so often being told that we can't do something right now. But both have at times confided that they miss their friends, or are bored with the routine and wish they could do something else. Ms4 is disappointed that she can't have her birthday party, and that she can't go back to school. Mr8 was keen to come to her optometrist appointment with us, simply so he could have a change of scene.
They understand why, and don't complain, which only makes me feel worse for them.
Mr8 has been refusing to try riding his new bike since he got it at Xmas. After the first week at home I finally convinced him to have a go, and by the following day he was riding around unassisted. Mr8 is now riding all over the neighborhood with one parent or the other in tow, enjoying his new freedom and speed.
On these rides, it looks like quite a lot of kids will have learned to ride bikes by the time school goes back. I'm hoping Ms4 will also get the hang of it, but after seeing Mr8 ride off on his own so quickly she is feeling quite discouraged and avoiding her bike again. Something to keep working on.
Speaking of gardening, the veggie patch hasn't done much, but I did get these two tomatoes. I'm rather proud of them, because this is the first time I've actually managed to get full-sized tomatoes instead of mini ones. I still have some green ones, but with the weather having turned cold I don't like my chances of having them ripen.
Having free time is nice. I've done a bunch of weeding, turned the compost heap, mowed the lawn, and started the pruning. I may even have a neat and tidy garden by winter!
We're getting some quite cool weather now. With central heating we don't *need* a fire, but it's nice and provided a good distraction for the kids at a time when they were getting a bit sick of each other.
I offered to let Mr8 lay the fire on the third day, but he declined. The following morning however, while parents were still abed, he coaxed the smouldering stump in the fireplace back into life. Ms4 was most impressed by his courage, and he was very pleased with his accomplishment.
Between this and camping he has seen me manage a lot of fires, and we've talked a lot about fire safety, so I'm happy for him to have given it a try.