The blur of lockdown

The last few weeks have passed by in a bit of a blur. The days are starting to merge into one another and the initial adrenaline of balancing work and the kids simultaneously has started to fade.

It's meant I haven't kept up to writing like I wanted to so I'm inevitably eating myself up about that because I started this so that we would hold our memories of this time in one place.

I guess the reality of it though is that part of the memory of it will be that not every day was fun and new and exciting, and that's ok, and we have definitely had our share of quiet days, down days, want to scream into a pillow days. 

Although I know we have crammed a lot into the time, which is probably why lockdown feels as though it is going fast, the below is just a small snapshot between everyone having way too much screen time, handling a toddler who is hitting for attention and an out of control family chocolate addiction.


So what else have we been up to that means we might be passable as parents the last few weeks?

• We baked - twice - which anyone who knows me will understand is an achievement. Even more surprising was that the results tasted nice. The biscuits looked a bit questionable after a fiasco with a flour mix up, but it's the flavour that counts, right?
• Our tuff tray arrived and we painted in it, created a jungle scene and played dinosaur hide and seek

• ...and speaking of hide and seek - it's the game of lockdown in our house. Not content with playing it in the garden, it's now my four year old's evening routine that we hide from each other just before bed (in the same place every night apparently). And we got creative hiding dinosaurs in the garden to then try and find them, which was actually a lot of fun and lasted about an hour and a half
• On nicer days we enjoyed the outdoors. Time playing in the paddling pool, eating al fresco, the sandpit, running around in the local park and woods (forest according to my son), playing tag and creating assault courses I think will be some of my best memories of this time (the weather and outdoors really do make such a difference to lockdown life). We actually found a way of replicating some of what we enjoy doing at swimming in the paddling pool too

• We have done more crafts than I thought was possible. Robots. Princesses. Bracelets. Masks. Sheep. Apparently I'm making a princess hat for a princess chair this week and a lion and monkey head (still figuring that one out) and our study has a box big enough for a grown adult to fit in full of crafting crap (a.k.a. rubbish)
• I did the unthinkable and submitted to playdough. And was amazed that it was not the terrible experience I thought it would be.
• Our Easter Egg hunts were really lovely and we had a really fun bunny and chick themed day

And as for our little jar, well it really is looking little now, bulging with so many lovely, but simple ideas of things to do after this is all over. Some of the things we've added include:

• Having Grandparents over for a sleepover
• Going to our favourite Chinese restaurant in The Wirral with family for a massive banquet (and the same weekend going for an ice cream at Parkgate)
• A trip out to buy my little boy's first school uniform
• Buying coffee from the amazing If across the road from my office
• Going on a steam train
• Going to the cinema
• Dropping and collecting the kids from nursery

What amazes me about the jar is how it just keeps going. we are never out of ideas for things to put in it, which is largely probably because we didn't realise just how lucky we were before all this started.