Day 15: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Day 14: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Firstly, ladies – congratulations! It’s Day 14 and you‘re still standing. You’ve totally got this!
Squabble Scale: 2
Nothing of significance today, thank goodness – no doubt due to our fun excursion.
Continue reading “Day 14: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together”Day 13: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Squabble Scale: 6
Just a small example from today to give you the general flavour:
6 Year Old : Mummy! She (her older sister) called me a dumb dumb poo-poo head”
Me: “Do YOU think you’re a dumb, dumb poo-poo head”
6 Year Old: “No”
Me: “Well, no need to worry about what she saId then – YOU know you’re not.”
(I was tempted to tell my 6 year old to give her older sister the classic reply “I know you are but what am I?” but refrained as (a) it probably wouldn’t have been the best parenting move but, more importantly, (b) it would have kept the squabble going longer…..
Continue reading “Day 13: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together”Day 12: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
As I was putting my girls to bed this evening, I was thinking about what to write of my day in my diary this evening and I was drawing complete blanks on all fronts. Today, was simply a non-descript day – we did school work in the morning, followed by a visit to the (same) park as yesterday and watched a little t.v. before dinner.
There were no real highpoint or low points of the day – it was just one of those days that blend in.
The unsurprising came as a surprise to me. I was surprised at my lack of ideas to write about today (usually not an issue for me at all) but of course, on reflection, it’s not at all surprising. There are bound to be days that seem to blend into each other.
Continue reading “Day 12: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together”Day 11: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Squabble Scale: 5
A solid 5 this morning – they had been on their best behaviour yesterday (warned / bribed by their Father) so they needed to let it out this morning. I can’t even remember what any of the squabbles were about – one of them probably had a shinier spoon at breakfast or something.
I’m not joking, they used tp frequently argue at breakfast over who had the longest spoon (they were identical IKEA spoons) – eventually I banned them having that argument so then they used to argue about who had the shiniest spoon…..
A good run in the park this afternoon ran the squabbling out of them, thank goodness.
Continue reading “Day 11: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together”Day 9: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Squabble Scale: 6
A solid 6 again today – we didn’t leave the house yesterday or this morning and you could tell from the behaviour…………
After a trip to the park, things improved (it’s like taking dogs for a run to calm them down!).
Relationship Status
Himself insisted that we got take away for dinner tonight to give me a night off cooking (cooking is not his strength…..) so he’s in the good books!
Day 8: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Squabble Scale: 6
A jump in numbers today!
Their silliest squabble was over a daffodil. Yesterday, in the park, they both brought home a daffodil that they found on the ground and put them in water.
Today, they argued over which daffodil belonged to who – apparently one of them was “worser” than the other…….
Day 7: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
Squabble Scale: 0
Dare I say, it was a squabble free day! There was lots of manic laughter from my two little giddy goats – you know, the kind of fun that can turn in a second into a major argument or meltdown but thankfully, that did not happen.
Tomorrow is another day, of course……..
Relationship Status
Another long work day for both of us – unfortunately, only one of us gets paid!
Toilet Roll Status
My local Tesco was fully stocked today – granted, that was at 8.00 this morning when I trying together a little shop done before homeschool started. So, if anyone was in there looking for toilet roll, they were probably able to get some.
On the other hand if they were looking for bottled water, latex gloves, cans of 7up, cans of Club Orange or chocolate than they were probably going to be out of luck as a woman in the shop bought (no exaggeration) over 30 bottles of water, 28 cans each of 7up and fizzy orange, approx. 10 boxes of latex gloves and shed loads of selected multi pack chocolate. I don’t know what sort of crisis she was hoarding for!
If I gave my kids lots of sugar while we are cooped up in the house, I would be doing our next door neighbours a great dis-service. The walls are far too thin to deal with that………
Weather
Still on our side…..
Home School
My oldest was learning 7 times multiplication today. I had vivid flashbacks of learning my 7 times tables in school. I think the way I learnt them was far more rote and militant – no fun Apps to help me learn them. Although, my daughter was impressed (rarely happens!) that I knew that 7 times 7 is 49 without even having to think about it.
My youngest made a picture of the Solar System – glad I stocked up on all those art supplies last week!
Fun Activities
There’s a tiny park near us with a path around the outside – my 9 year old did laps on her bike while my 6 year old timed her with the stopwatch on my phone. I don’t know which of them had more fun.
The 6 year old is quite the coach – relying on more of the stick than the carrot approach!
Highpoint of the Day
My girls were playing in the next room while I was doing some writing. Suddenly, the dreaded quiet – you know the one, when they’re up to something……..
However, on going to investigate, I was pleasantly surprised. They were curled up on the couch together with my oldest reading her younger sister a story.
So sweet – one of those moments when all their previous squabbling is (briefly) forgotten.
Lowpoint of the Day
Just tiredness – the days are busy…………..
Contributions
ACIVITIES
If you have someone in your house, fascinated by space then they might be interested in this (thanks to Illona for sharing). NASA have made their entire collection (just click on this link)of images, sounds, and video available and publicly searchable online. It’s 140,000 photos and other resources available for you to see, or even download and use it any way you like.
PODCAST
Rebecca, who is the Editor of the popular magasine “Expat Living” in Hong Kong (and a very lovely friend) shared her very helpful podcast on homeschooling during school closures with us.
At the time she made the podcast, our kid’s schools in Hong Kong were closed due to the rioting so this podcast is based on Rebecca’s first hand experience:
http://www.expatliving.hk/how-to-set-up-learning-at-home-during-school-closures-podcast/
SOCIAL MEDIA
I came across this – a bizarre unexplained event:
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And finally, a little giggle to end the day:
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Keep sharing ladies -I’m looking for jokes, stories of your good and bad days, your moans and frustrations, your funny moments, positive messages, ideas for kids activities, suggested kids online learning resources…….. I want to hear it all – the good, the bad and the ugly!
Also, if your kids have pictures of their drawings, art and craft creations, lego builds, baked treats or anything that they would like to share then just send them into me to post.
And, let’s not forget about us Mums – any online activities and resources for US that you come across, then please share too!
You can contact me on email at ourgirlsgang@gmail.com or through Instagram or Facebook Messenger.
Day 6: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
I thought that Leo’s address was well done last night – words of encouragement mixed with reality. The “calm before the storm, before the surge” is worrying but maybe It gives a wake up call to those not taking social distancing seriously……
Squabble Scale: 4
Just the one squabble of note today.
Before we started “school” this morning, I left the girls downstairs for a quick play while I went for a shower.
My last words to them, before I went upstairs was “I’ll be 5 minutes in the shower (typical Mum shower!) and Daddy is on a work call in his office so no fighting and shouting while I’m upstairs.
You can guess what happened as soon as I turned on the water in the shower……..
Continue reading “Day 6: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together”Day 5: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together
I sat down to write my diary page last night and was just overwhelmed with tiredness – both physically and mentally, hence no diary entry yesterday. I was all worn out. I’m sure we are all finding that we are having some of those days at the moment……..
Yesterday (allowing myself to get caught up in speculation), I convinced myself that a lockdown announcement was coming yesterday and was rushing around making sure I had plenty of food in, filling prescriptions and going to Argos to get lego for the kids. (Following, our relocation from Hong Kong, we are still in temporary accommodation and all our worldly possessions,including most of the girls toys and books, are in a shipping container sitting down in Dublin docks – deep breaths…..).
I’d also read that I should be bleaching the kitchen surfaces every night so when I finally sat down after doing that, I was all done in – nothing left in the tank.
Anyway, today is a new day………
Squabble Scale: 5
I give my daughters one “Get Out of Jail Free” pass a day – basically they get a free pass on one bit of bad behaviour and a chance to make amends. thereafter, there will be consequences…..
My 9 year old had already used her Get Out of Jail free pass by 8.15 a.m. – not off to a promising start…….
Things, thankfully, improved – no doubt helped by the fun distractions of making cupcakes, painting and movies.
Continue reading “Day 5: Diary of a Mum Trying to Keep it Together”
Our Girls Gang 