Olivia started Distance Learning this week. It has been going pretty well. I'm very grateful we have an extra Mac laptop because that is what she uses at school. She was able to complete all her "academic" work (math, spelling, reading and writing) in about an hour. It was all online and submitted via Google Classroom. Then, during Eric's naptime while I worked, she did the activities from her Specials teachers (science, Spanish, art, music, PE). Hopefully we can maintain this schedule going forward.
We had a mid-week treat when a sno cone truck came through our neighborhood. It was pretty crowded in line which made me sort of nervous, so I made the kids stand back. But we quickly got our sno cones and came home to eat it.
Popo and Tutu have been helping us by sending a package of goodies every week. One week the kids got new lego sets which kept Olivia especially busy for hours. The next week Eric got a box of new books and Olivia got 2 science kits!
Breaking geodes open
Learning about hydrophobic substances
When it was rainy, we brought the bikes inside
And when it was sunny, we enjoyed a "rock walk" and then came home to paint the rocks we found
We had lots more water fun
Eric has been happy this week too. One morning he woke up saying he was a super hero and asked me if I had a mission for him. I couldn't really think of anything to say. At first I asked him to go find something in the house that started with D. He came back with daddy. Then he asked for another mission, so I went out on a limb and asked for coffee. He immediately told Matt they needed to go to Starbucks. So, I would say that mission was a complete success -- I got 20 minutes to myself and a grande latte! I am definitely encouraging this imaginative play! ;)
He also got in some lessons with "teacher mommy." Here he is matching mamma animals to their babies. His attention span and interest in doing work with me is really hit or miss. Many times he will be interested initially and then ask me or Olivia if we will finish the work for him. I'm not sure if this is just something he is doing because its mommy. I've never had a problem with his teachers saying he doesn't do his work. So hopefully once he settles into this new routine, that will get better.
Olivia ended the week with a Zoom check-in with her class and teacher. I find these meetings simultaneously lovely and heart-breaking. Its so sweet to watch how excited these kids and their sweet teachers are to see each other. But its also so sad to think about not being able to end the school year and to hear all their questions and concerns about whether they are properly meeting the expectations of distance learning.
I am constantly searching online or Pinterest to find activities for the kids to do. The measure of success is how long they will actually stick with an activity. The clear winner this week was bubble foam (mixed 1/4 c. kids bath soap with 1/2 cup water in the food processor). We poured it into little tubs, added some bath toys and food coloring and they played for close to 1/2 an hour!
Olivia's main project for this week was making homemade squishy toys out of duck tape. She found a video tutorial on YouTube and now we are drowning in squishies! Randomly, her best friend Brooke dropped her a little present for Olivia on our doorstep and it was...a homemade ducktape squishy! So, I guess they are bff for a reason.
I would say this week was a success. Everyone seemed happy and we settled into a little bit of a routine. Just for the memory book: here is what things look like. Matt and I take turns getting up with Eric at 5am. This has been life-changing. So every other day, I get to sleep till 7:30ish. We usually are all up and moving by 8am and everyone gets dressed and we do a quick Family Run. After we get home, Matt goes to the office to work. Olivia gets breakfast and then around 9am, she gets started on her school work. While she's doing that, I take Eric upstairs to play or do a "lesson." We usually finish up around 10/10:30 and get back with Olivia to play outside or do an online class (music or art). At 11ish the kids get some screentime while I make lunch. We eat lunch at 11:30 and at 12 I put Eric down for a nap. That has been taking a long time these days because he has no interest in sleeping when he knows Olivia is there to play with. By 12:30, I've got him down for a nap and I start working. I usually work from about 12:30-3:30. And then Eric is up and we usually play outside or do some activity (science, art or baking) till Matt finishes working. If I need to work a little more, I usually do so when the kids go down or sometimes Matt can get away for a while during the day and give me a hour or so to work.
A few funny things from this week:
1. Eric's discovery and subsequent obsession with bath bombs. He noticed Olivia using them and asked for one. She did and that was it. He now freaks out every night for Olivia to take a bath with him and let him have a bath bomb. I had to buy more bath bombs off Amazon for this 2 year old fancy-pants. But, he's so cute!
2. In a total first-world problem category, we are not having our housekeeper come so we are having to clean the house ourselves. To make it easier, I bought some "self-cleaning" tabs that you put in the toilet. Once side-effect is the water in the toilet is blue. For some reason both kids (including Eric who is still in diapers) are completely freaked out by the blue water and constantly bring it up. Matt and I both think the whole thing is hilarious.
By Friday, we were all ready for the end of the week and we piled up on the couch for a family movie. The good news is we all still like each other and were happy to be with each other.
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