Lockdown Day 1 - Into the Trenches

When approaching a 21-day home isolation with your family, what would you rather have: a good day, getting off to a positive start, while knowing that things are not always going to be that good, or would you rather a not-so-good day, knowing that things can only get better?

This was my question to myself last night. It's easy to build up the unknown into something negative. After all, that's what we've coming to expect right? I thought back to the times that I could not manage my kids for an hour, and calculated dismal chances of survival during this lockdown. Then I thought about the fact that I've already been home with them two weeks, so maybe (hopefully) we would already be in a routine that would not be too difficult to stick to. Turns out, it's a bit of both.

Today was another normal homeschooling day, except that Andel was here. If you know Andel, you know that he is not a morning person (not for non-cycling things, anyway), and when I woke him at 07h30 to say he should get up and dressed so not be late for his first day, he was not impressed. I'm not kidding: it took a home workout and two cups of coffee in an hour for him to perk up. School time was interesting. I likened it to the first day having a student teacher or substitute shadowing you. You know they can do it, but they're reluctant to take initiative at first. Of course, Andel is good with the kids, and they love having him home - he's their dad after all. Not much work got done though. So I laughed when, at nap time, Andel said, "I really think we've done a good job today. They're all sleeping. It's been productive. Now I'm going to relax." I had to remind him that we were only half way through the day and the workload. He nearly passed out.

Thankfully tomorrow is the weekend, and I am looking forward to it. We have been intentional about making this time about being together, and doing things that often we swap out for things away from home that we feel are more interesting, or that we don't want to miss out on. I, for one, cannot wait to sleep in good and proper tomorrow morning. There'll be no cricket matches, no appointments, no grocery shopping, no playdates or parties... I feel more relaxed already!

So there's day one, done and dusted. Another 20 more (at least) to go.

A makeshift multi-grade classroom at the dining table

ps. I fell asleep before I could order my groceries last night. Fortunately my alarm still goes off after 06h00, so I had my order in before 07h00, and delivered to my front door by 11h00. For all the locals who do their shopping at Checkers, download their Sixty60 app, and try it out. Delivery is free!