It has been that long, I can’t even remember when it was the first week we went into lockdown in Ireland. For us this is the new normal now but we must be entering week nine I’d say. As we are entering a new week, today is the day where some of the restrictions are being lifted again.
In Ireland we have started going into phase one as of today which is the start of the five phase plan created by the government. It means nothing really other than certain shops are opening up again where social distancing and safety measures are in place. These are shops like garden centres, motor/bike repair shops, beaches, farming, builders and opticians. Right now we can still only exercise in a 5 kilometer radius of our home and only going out for groceries or medication when necessary. It is a start from the time we could only leave the house in a 2 kilometer radius.
Hubby and I are still working from home and we will be for a long time to come until the offices are setup for social distancing. According to the official statement, we can’t go back until the beginning of August. Schools won’t be back until the new academic year which will be September. For the time being, we have been home schooling Matthew and to be fair it is going well. We have our own little routine going for a while now. He does his work in the morning after a session of Body Coach on YouTube. This is the only time where you get his full concentration.
In fact he is pretty good at his homework, particularly the maths. We generally have everything done under an two hours. And this is without rushing. The afternoon is for the two to chill and do whatever they want. This normally involves a bit of iPad and Nintendo Switch for an hour. Afterwards we go outside. We have been pretty lucky with the weather during this lockdown. I can only recall maybe not even a handful of rainy days.
During this time we talked them around to playing upstairs in their room. It’s a waste of space really just for sleeping. It has made such a difference because the playroom gets quite cluttered and both could be at each other in no time. They make up their own little games up there and it is lovely to see them using the space. I started moving a few of their favourite toys in their rooms, too.
Weekends is generally for walks… we tend to go for a walk on both days. We live by a canal which has many lovely walks in different directions. I think we covered them all at this stage. The kids love exploring, spotting butterflies, flowers and feeding the ducks.
Of course there are times it can be tough but we are managing well and have found our own little routine. I’d say it will be hard to go back to the normal routine as the kids haven’t seen their friends in such a long time, bar the ones that live in the 5 kilometeres radius when we go for walks and they cycle by for example.
The grocery shopping is another thing that has become incredibly difficult. We now need to proper meal plan as previously both kids were given dinners and lunches in creche. As you can imagine, our food bill is now higher. Lidl is still my favourite place to go because there is never any issue with queuing. Slots between 9 and 11am are kept for the elderly to shop. Whereas Dunnes and Tesco can be a nightmare at certain times. Last week I was queuing for about half an hour, if not even more. It’s pretty much like queuing at a gig… that way I still get my concert experiences. HA Does everyone else constantly hand out snacks?
Thought it took a while, but we now have a few new plants in our garden as well. I planted a grape, redcurrant and apple tree. As well as that we now have a magnolia tree, peas and carrots. It definitely makes it much more cosier.
Earlier on I had my first experience of Click & Collect at Smyths. It is pretty well done. We needed play sand for their sandpit for such a long time. However I wasn’t willing to pay a delivery fee that was nearly twice the amount of the sand I would have gotten. This makes it pretty easy to order online and collect within an hour. Social distancing and all kept of course as they drop it into the boot for you. We were going for a little spin around the town afterwards and I have to say I did see more life, more cars etc. Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing but we will see in a few weeks to come I suppose.
Before we went into lock down, I managed to get my hands on hair clippers in Power City. I am so glad I did. This makes life so much easier. I cut hubby’s hair twice. The second time was better than the first. Matthew surprisingly now lets me cut his hair with the clippers too. He was afraid of it up until then. He probably realises that he has no choice because mammy is not a hairdresser and just can’t cut it neat with normal scissors.
I mean lockdown is pretty good to the kids overall. They get ice cream, sweets, chocolate, Chloe gets to bake with me every now and again. Life can’t be better for them, right?
How has life been for you?
