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+ Humuhumu and I discovered I can transfer Pokemon to her from Pokemon Go on my phone to Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee on the Nintendo Switch. That has helped enormously with whiling away the weekend, especially since I have a cold.
- Keiki and the bloke went to pick up his glasses from the opticians on Saturday morning, as we hadn’t heard anything from them about cancelling the appointment. They were shut, and a notice on the door informed them that new glasses were being couriered out. We have no idea when they might arrive, though, as we haven’t been given any information specific to his case.
+ We made a lot of progress with the garden, at least the portion of it that isn’t an abandoned building site. We’ve turned over 75% of the beds, thoroughly weeded them, dug through the manure, and planted potatoes and quite a lot of other seeds.
- We’re stuck with a half-built house extension with no roof until the ban on non-essential travel is lifted.
+ We made progress on establishing a daily home-school routine with a variety of activities. These are:
+ Humuhumu had a half-hour video conversation with her three best friends on WhatsApp yesterday. It was mayhem. They were clearly overjoyed to see one another. I enjoyed watching the dynamic between them. Two of them never stopped competing for the limelight (and Humuhumu’s attention). We’re going to try and do the group video chat weekly, and individual chats interspersed through the week.
- It's quite difficult to do social distancing on the canal towpath. We're still trying to work out the optimal time of day to go for our walk in order to minimise contact.
+ I’m talking to my parents more frequently and they seem to be happier for it.
+ The bloke found eggs and rice (microwave packets, but at this point I’ll take it) at the shop yesterday.
- Still no pasta or toilet roll, though (WHYYYYY).
How are you all getting on? Hope you're keeping well. ♥
- Keiki and the bloke went to pick up his glasses from the opticians on Saturday morning, as we hadn’t heard anything from them about cancelling the appointment. They were shut, and a notice on the door informed them that new glasses were being couriered out. We have no idea when they might arrive, though, as we haven’t been given any information specific to his case.
+ We made a lot of progress with the garden, at least the portion of it that isn’t an abandoned building site. We’ve turned over 75% of the beds, thoroughly weeded them, dug through the manure, and planted potatoes and quite a lot of other seeds.
- We’re stuck with a half-built house extension with no roof until the ban on non-essential travel is lifted.
+ We made progress on establishing a daily home-school routine with a variety of activities. These are:
- Half an hour of PE with Joe Wickes every morning at 9 AM. This is also making me fit. Humuhumu is very into it. Keiki was just rolling around the floor getting in the way and cackling on Monday, but by Friday he was trying the exercises 50% of the time, so that’s progress. We all think Joe frets too much about social media and should focus more on the exercises.
- 15 minutes of yoga daily, thanks to the temporarily free (until 1 May) Down Dog app. Humuhumu loves yoga. Keiki just likes Happy Baby pose. I can now get them to do it on command. It’s a great way to break up bickering fights. “Everyone do Happy Baby pose!” And obediently they roll onto their backs and grab their feet, giggling.
- Maths with Daddy. He makes a problem sheet with 10 maths questions for them every day. Humuhumu gets annoyed when Daddy makes her do fractions. Keiki thinks it’s funny to add zeroes to everything.
- Music with Mummy. Humuhumu has learnt C, F and G major scales and chords with both hands. Keiki can find middle C. And play the length of the keyboard with round fruit, of course.
- Gardening. They discovered the joys of making a really big hole and then filling it in again. Hours of entertainment.
+ Humuhumu had a half-hour video conversation with her three best friends on WhatsApp yesterday. It was mayhem. They were clearly overjoyed to see one another. I enjoyed watching the dynamic between them. Two of them never stopped competing for the limelight (and Humuhumu’s attention). We’re going to try and do the group video chat weekly, and individual chats interspersed through the week.
- It's quite difficult to do social distancing on the canal towpath. We're still trying to work out the optimal time of day to go for our walk in order to minimise contact.
+ I’m talking to my parents more frequently and they seem to be happier for it.
+ The bloke found eggs and rice (microwave packets, but at this point I’ll take it) at the shop yesterday.
- Still no pasta or toilet roll, though (WHYYYYY).
How are you all getting on? Hope you're keeping well. ♥
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We’re getting on. I’m maybe stress baking a bit XD
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Stress baking sounds like a great coping mechanism. Now that I actually have some eggs, I might do some of that too!
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Thanks for mentioning Joe Wicks. Had to Google him and will try his kids workout with the girls. I need to find something that my eldest enjoys, what I've suggested so far wasn't to her taste.
I'm glad you guys are doing okay. We are too.
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I hope Eldest enjoys the exercise. He definitely ramped it up toward the end of the week. There was a lot less cute stuff and a fair few burpees. If she finds this Monday's workout too much, maybe go back to the first one (aired 23 March).
Hooray for doing okay. I'm trying not to ask too much of myself or the family. There's no getting round the fact that this is not how we want to live.
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But yes, we wish he'd spend less time on social - or at least get himself better organised, ideally with a teleprompt screen or something, rather than someone on the phone reading stuff into his ear.
And how the heck did you catch a cold while supposedly distancing??
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She wasn't very enthusiastic, sadly. It's so hard to get her properly moving. Argh.
That's a wise attitude. Go you!
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I'll settle for healthy. There isn't a lot about this situation that makes me happy. :/
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Savers and Home Bargains have had decent stocks of toilet paper over the last week or so.
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Glad to hear stock levels are normalising. I'm hopeful we'll find some pasta on this next weekend's shop.
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I think they might have some in by now, it's not something I buy very often.
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Adorable, and I wish I could try it on problem customers.
Yay for eggs and rice!! We have no toilet paper in stores either, which is frustrating, because I've seen photos of them unpacking pallets of it. I guess you have to be there at the right time. Paper towel was back this week, so I hope loo paper isn't far away.
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I should look at that yoga app. I've been meaning to find a fitness thing I can add to daily routines. Most of what I need right now is flexibility anyway, and maintaining a cranky back.
The ability to move Pokemon around really is nice.
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The yoga app is great. I love that you can set it at different levels and durations.
Yay for Pokemon! It's saving my and Humuhumu's sanity, sharing our love of the imaginary critters.
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Also, transferring charges your Mystery Box, so you should have a half-hour's worth of Meltan spawns waiting for you.
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Ooh, would you recommend Sword/Shield? I'm pondering whether or not to get it for the Easter holidays.
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Pros: It's one of the most accessible "full" Pokémon games that I've played in a while. They made a lot of gameplay tweaks (e.g. how Pokémon gain experience, how storage works) that make the experience overall smoother and less grind-y. I also appreciated that it borrows some of the more interactive elements from Pokémon Go and Let's Go (e.g. Pokémon visible in the grass). Most criticism of Sword/Shield has been that it's too simple compared to its predecessors, but I don't think that's at all a bad thing. It's good both for kids and for time-starved adults, because the storyline is linear and it's always clear what you should do next.
Cons: Don't expect an immersive, elaborate RPG experience. If you're new to the Pokémon world, you may also be struck at how... weird some things are, sometimes just amusing weird (Sword/Shield is inspired by the UK, so you'll get an amazing look at how the Japanese think the British talk) and sometimes annoying weird (heterosexism abounds). If you're not new, the nostalgia element is not as strong with this one as a lot of the Pokémon are new and the storyline deviates from the "standard" more than usual imo.
Overall I think I would recommend it, especially if there's little else to do for a bit...
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It's tough enough to work from home without having to wrangle kids.
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