Week 6: The Good, The Hard, & The Ugly

We had some truly amazing moments this week, like really, really good ones. But we also had a long hard stretch of cold weather and numerous mini-blizzards a day from Sunday-Thursday (and the whole previous week). We didn't get near enough sun shine, exercise or fresh air. And we had a number of really ugly moments. Parenting a three year old turned snarky, defiant, aggressive dictator with intermittent sleep patterns requires a lot of patience and it's at short supply all around. Thankfully we seemed to turn a corner on Friday and the outbursts seem to be fewer and farther apart.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE.

Sunday April 19th

I spent time in the afternoon decluttering the living room but still felt like I didn't have full energy so it's taking much longer than I anticipated. And of course I was interrupted by this cutie regularly! So I will have to share the finished product at a later time.

We got a bit more Nintendo Wii playing in after Andrew and E tidied the basement. Afterwards the boys went on a chilly bike ride.

Monday April 20th
After a terrible night of little sleep, we took it very easy. The boys did a lot of independent playing (kitchen, doctor, forts, hair dresser), we got some learning in, some crafting and a short chilly outside play time. After dinner, Andrew and the boys made some chocolate cake for trifle the next day.

Tuesday April 21st
Today was a really productive day but it had a lot of ugly moments - mostly tablet and computer frustrations (both hardware and software). T's enjoyment of The Carnival of the Animals continues and has broadened to the other books on CD that we have. We now listen to these books very regularly (they are a great tool to calm and focus the 3 year old).

A chilly but sunny bike ride unsurprisingly ended with wet socks and happy kids. And the boys finished making chocolate cake/pistachio pudding/whipped cream trifle.

Wednesday April 22nd - Earth Day!

This day had lots of good moments. E's kitchen abilities are really developing and he can now make many breakfast items from start to finish without any parental input. T and I spent some time working on puzzles, just the two of us. I really like these ones that aren't square for preschoolers. E has started working on a money math unit (en français) and is really loving it!

I love Earth Day, and having a day of focused discussions with my kids about conservation, pollution, sustainability and how we can treat our planet in a way to ensure it's health was a privilege. E had Earth Day school assignments but we also did a video call Earth Day Bingo with some cousins and enjoyed a concert by Fiddle and Swing.

Thursday April 23rd

Another rough day, full of both exhaustion and anxiety. This glockenspiel/xylophone duet was the highlight of the day, followed by T's exploration of an egg-shaped rock and why he couldn't open it. During some outdoor time in the afternoon, I continued the spring clean-up of the hostas in our gardens.

Friday April 24th

It was my mom's birthday this week and we haven't seen my parents in person since January. So after weeks of quarantine we chose a day with good weather for a visit. Very thankful for outdoor space to visit and kid-size masks given to us by our nurse neighbour for minimal indoor time.  We all used masks inside, which is why you can see my mom with hers pulled down outside.

After the visit at my mom's we stopped by my sister's for a book swap and toddler shoe delivery.

Saturday April 25th

This was pretty close to a perfect day and reminiscing (a couple days later) I can't really think of much I would change. We had a backyard camp-out! Including everything from the tent/sleeping bags to roasted hotdogs to nature collages to smores. A few hard moments getting kids to sleep in a tent (but I would say that's standard to the first night when camping any time).

We also had a few friends drop things off, including a large cardboard box full of books and a bouquet of tulips (my favourite!). The boys have already spent hours reading the new books.