Today is Day 25 of our lockdown. 25 days of not leaving the house other than for groceries. The children haven’t left the house at all. No wonder they get so excited when they hear the doorbell, or the horn of the bread delivery man’s van.
Last week we started on some Easter crafts. We made some cute clothes peg peekaboo eggs, an Easter tree from a branch that had blown off our jacaranda tree a few months ago, and Mr H even flexed his craft muscles with some plastic spoon bunnies, chicks & ladybirds. Such fun, and the girls love making things. All of a sudden, the craft materials that I’ve amassed over the past however many years have all become very useful indeed.
I do feel very grateful that we have these materials to hand in this situation. I know that not every family will have this luxury. We have so many things to be grateful for – a work schedule that allows us to also focus on our children, home-schooling them to the best of our abilities but also being able to spend quality play time with them as well; space to spread out throughout the house; outdoor space; we still have our jobs…
We still have the daily applause at 20:00. The children love it. We go onto our roof terrace to join in, and then dance around to the local DJ set that goes on for about 30 minutes afterwards. He takes requests and dedications which it seems most of the neighbourhood enjoys. Maybe they’ll play our request of ‘supercalifrajalisticexpialidocious’ next week. I’ll keep you informed.
Another recent highlight is the evening calls with grandad to read bedtime stories to the girls. He dug out his copy of the Brothers Grimm’s tales from when he was a kid and reads a story of their choice to them. Fun for all the family!
We tried out a local organic farm for some fresh produce. The delivery arrived today and it has made me so happy. A bountiful box full of beautiful, fresh, local produce. Delivered by a real farmer. We found the tiniest carrot any of us had ever seen, along with a carrot which looked like a pair of legs. The littlest member of the family even gobbled down a few of these carrots, when normally she would not even consider eating a tiny slice of carrot. We also received wild garlic, beetroot, radishes, avocadoes, kumquats (a big hit with the not-so-littlest Harvey), aubergines, kale, a local olive oil, potatoes… so good.
This weekend it’s Easter. I hope that the Easter Bunny is not subject to the same lockdown rules as the rest of us. I know 2 little ones who would be very disappointed indeed.
Happy Easter.
