Here’s a vague overview of what happened today in the lives of my small people:
Bella got herself dressed. She wore a dress that was too small, with a ripped tutu, leggings that were too big and socks with a hole in.
Henry spent a solid hour kicking a football as high as he could so that his shoe flew off. He then hopped to collect the shoe before going again.
Later on he got banished to the house by Andy because he ‘wouldn’t stop hammering things’. I have no further information about that.
If I’m reading his nappies correctly, Xander is teething.
In a bid to get them to eat homemade soup at lunch (we can’t afford to be picky) we had a competition to see who could slurp it off the spoon the loudest.
The soup trade-off was that we all had a Cornetto in the sunshine for pudding.
Bella, apparently, can recite What The Ladybird Heard Next, word for word. (With a lisp.) Who knew?
They were both so filthy from foraging about in the garden that I let them have a deep bath with extra bubbles. (Proper treat territory.)
Henry told me at bedtime it was his ‘best day ever’.
If the kids remember this time at all I want them to remember it as that weird summer where we had to stay home. Not as a bad time, and not even as a particularly super fun time, just ‘that time’. I don’t want it to live long in their memories.
Children take things in their stride more than we give them credit for. If we give them reason to worry - if we talk about scary stuff in their earshot, or let on there is any uncertainty ahead - they will pick up on that.
But if we can absorb this new normal, just weave it into our lives like it’s something that happens every now and then, they might not log it in the memory bank.
And that’s alright with me.
***
I saw this on Instagram today and it really resonated.
We are here for such a brief time. We are so obsessed with living a hard and fast life, buying all the stuff, making all the money, doing all the things, and we take everything for granted. But as long as all this Covid stuff rumbles on, as long as we're all gnashing our teeth about the upheaval it's causing and the things we're missing, everything that was here before us - and everything that will remain long after we've gone - just quietly continues on its slow but steady course.
Verse courtesy of @calmandbrightsleepsupport - incidentally the incredible ladies who got Xander sleeping through the night.
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